Maruti Suzuki top pick among auto stocks: Deepak Shenoy

In a chat with ET Now, Deepak Shenoy, Founder, Capital Mind, shares his view on automobile stocks.

ET Now: Auto companies are doing well. But, auto stocks are not doing that well. Should you buy auto stocks? What is your pick when it comes to Motown?

Deepak Shenoy: I would actually go with Maruti Suzuki even as the stock looks expensive compared to auto peers. From an India perspective, I would just prefer Tata Motors more than Ashok Leyland. But Tata Motors is more than India now. Given the fact that the company’s exposure abroad is much higher, I am not so sanguine about it. Ashok Leyland is a play on the automotive truck segment.

Some eight years ago, I thought this would be a fantastic play because we were expecting highways and massive expansion in the road network. But typically these things take a long time to play out. Therefore, even as you have great highways even now and it is the time for truck sales to boom, but they are not.
Thus, the cycle is a bit longer than I initially thought. Even as we are sanguine or if we like the sector right now, the sector will actually start moving only after 3-4 years, which is a little too much right now given the high prices. I will wait for numbers to start moving, before taking a call. That said, I am still positive on auto stocks like Maruti Suzuki.