Bharat Forge shimmers owing to North America truck orders

World’s largest forging major, Bharat Forge is trading with smart gains of close to 4 per cent owing to strong heavy-duty truck orders in North American markets, which have increased for the first time in nearly two years.

November upturn signals truck manufacturing decline has bottomed out, but outlook remains tepid.

FTR Transportation Intelligence, a research firm, said in a preliminary report that fleet owners ordered 19,300 vehicles in November, up 18 per cent from a year earlier and 41 per cent on a monthly basis.

The bump follows 20 consecutive months of decline in orders for Class 8 trucks, the big rigs that carry goods on long-haul routes, as fleet owners cut back plans to expand or replace vehicles amid weak shipping demand in the country.

Increase in truck orders bodes positive for Bharat Forge as it directly impacts company’s sales in the US. Class 8 truck orders contributed 32 per cent of company's FY16 revenue.

US markets being one of the major geographies for the company, this is likely to give a boost to the auto component behemoth in the times to come.

Reacting to this news shares of Bharat Forge spiked up more than 4 per cent in early trade before cooling down to trade at Rs 897.9 up 2.83 per cent on NSE.