Haldex Stock Gains as Swedbank Analysts See Sales Revival

Haldex AB, a Swedish producer of auto parts, rose the most in a month after the manufacturer said sales started to recover in January, prompting Swedbank AB to recommend that investors buy the shares.

Haldex climbed as much as 2.9 percent to 39.2 kronor, the biggest intraday jump since Jan. 14, and was trading 2.6 percent higher at 11:25 a.m. in Stockholm. The stock has gained 17 percent this year, valuing the company at 1.73 billion kronor ($273 million).

The year “has started more positive, which makes us cautiously optimistic about the market development,” Haldex Chief Executive Officer Bo Annvik said yesterday in a statement. The Stockholm-based company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 4 million kronor, compared with profit of 24 million kronor a year earlier, as sales fell 17 percent to 864 million kronor.

“January has started out better than the slow December, which was held back by inventory corrections,” Mats Liss and Niclas Hoeglund, analysts at Swedbank in Stockholm, said in a report to investors. A strategic review that Haldex plans for its businesses “is likely to keep up the interest.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Ewing in Stockholm at aewing5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net