No. of Recommendations: 9
I think that it's a fine brand and a fine firm.
My two hesitations are:
* It is not entirely a financial security. I believe an enormous amount of the interest in the shares is "fan" behaviour: people wanting to be part of the mystique. This explains the perennially lofty valuations better than the financial results do. Sort of a low key meme stock, in a way. Consequently, the long run financial performance of a share might not correspond well to the long run financial performance of the firm.
* I think they are strip mining the brand. Any exclusive brand can boost profits hugely--for a brief while--by increasing production and licensing the brand to cheaper products, but it erodes the brand value quite quickly. Pierre Cardin used to be a serious designer, but is now the label you see on the socks at a dollar store. I don't think "Genuine Ferrari" baby buggies and (yes) underwear will lead to brand longevity. They needed to show serious growth after going public, so they are licensing to the bottom.
The boss of Ferrari vowed in 2013 that they would never produce more than 7000 cars per year, in order to keep that very same exclusivity premium. That's the last year they sold that few : )
Something like 10,000-11,000 these days.
Jim
