Cadillac
- General Motors should spin off Cadillac much like Fiat Chrysler did with Ferrari, Morgan Stanley says.
- The bank estimates Cadillac could be worth $15 billion as an independent business.
- Follow GM’s stock price in real-time here.
General Motors’ wildly successful Cadillac brand could be worth $15 billion, Morgan Stanley estimates, and deserves an existence outside of GM’s usual structure in order to flourish.
“We continue to see Cadillac as a distinct and highly valuable business that can increasingly justify and independent existence potentially outside of the GM parent/group structure,” analyst Adam Jonas told clients Tuesday. “We believe that Cadillac is in a position to potentially report results as an independent business not unlike Maserati at FCA or Ferrari before that.”
Essentially, Jonas is advocating that GM follow Fiat Chrysler’s lead to spin-off it’s more successful brands, much like it did with Ferrari, which has seen much success since its initial public offering in 2015. It’s a wild plan he’s been theorizing on for months now.
Even in its current rank as a GM brand, where General Motors is essentially the holding company for Cadillac and its other portfolio brands, Cadillac looks primed to perform well going forward.
Earlier this month, GM abruptly ousted Cadillac head Johan de Nysschen, replacing him with Steve Carlisle, who was previously head of GM Canada. The former “pushed things a step too far,” Jessica Caldwell, an analyst for Edmunds, told Autoweek. “It feels like Johan spent too much time chasing the German brands instead of embracing Cadillac’s unique heritage.”
Morgan Stanley remains confident in Carlisle’s ability to continue Cadillac’s transformation, which fuels its $48 price target for shares of GM, 26% above the stock’s price Tuesday.
“We are encouraged by this move, as we see it as a sign that GM senior management is not satisfied that Cadillac is living up to its full potential in the market,” said Jonas. “It is also our understanding that Steve Carlisle was closely involved with the development of GM’s digital strategy (4G, connected car). We expect that his leadership can accelerate Cadillac’s potential in the Auto 2.0 ecosystem, potentially delivering unique connected experiences to drivers and passengers.”
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