Last week, Daimler Truck held its first Annual General Meeting as an independent, listed company.

Due to Corona, the shareholders' meeting had to be held as a virtual general meeting, but it was still worth taking a look at the event.

The Dax company was able to come up with some prominent German managers.

Joe Kaeser, Siemens boss for many years, was allowed to open the general meeting as chairman of the supervisory board and take over the chairmanship.

The group, which offers medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks, city buses and intercity buses, coaches and bus chassis, among other things, explained how the challenges – economic consequences of the Ukraine war, supply chain problems and an impending economic downturn – would be mastered.

When it comes to the short-term issues, Daimler Truck seems to be doing well.

In response to the lack of semiconductors, for example, the distribution of the chips was optimized.

Strict control of fixed costs should also help cushion increases in raw material prices.

The truck orders are still going strong

At the same time, the group has recently benefited from sustained strong demand as a result of the economic recovery after the Corona dip.

In the first quarter of 2022, sales figures increased by 8 percent year-on-year to 109,000 units despite supply bottlenecks.

Price increases and positive developments in the areas of aftersales and used trucks ensured that sales increased by 17 percent to 10.6 billion euros.

With an order intake of 139,000 units, the record order backlog was further expanded.

Adjusted for the costs of stopping activities in Russia as a result of the Ukraine war, adjusted EBIT in the industrial business increased by 9 percent to 604 million euros.

The shareholders should have welcomed this with pleasure, just as the management was optimistic about the rest of the year.

2022 sales are seen at 500,000 and 520,000 units, while the sales forecast has even been slightly raised from 45.5 to 47.5 billion euros to now 48.0 to 50.0 billion euros.

The EBIT forecast for the group was also adjusted from "slight decline" to "at the previous year's level".

The focus is on e-mobility

An equally important topic at the Annual General Meeting was how Daimler Truck would like to tackle decarbonization in the mobility sector.

The group wants to accelerate the development of vehicles with battery and hydrogen-based drives.

In 2030, emission-free commercial vehicles are expected to account for up to 60 percent of Daimler Truck sales.

From 2039, the company intends to only offer new vehicles in North America, Europe and Japan that are CO2-neutral when driving.

An important step in this direction is the company's announcement in May that the eCascadia from the American brand Freightliner will go into series production this year and be delivered to some customers.

According to the company, the all-electric heavy-duty truck had previously successfully completed more than 1.6 million test kilometers in customer operation.

The range is around 370 km, so the truck should be ideal for short distances.

The Freightliner eCascadia, together with the Mercedes-Benz eActros and the eEconic, is part of Daimler Truck's global platform strategy.

In this way, the company relies on a globally standardized and cost-saving basic architecture for all-electric trucks: the ePowertrain.

In two years, the electric long-distance truck eActros LongHaul with a range of around 500 km will be used in important long-distance traffic and will increase Daimler Truck's contribution to the electrification of the commercial vehicle industry.

An option for long-term investors

Daimler Truck's plans could certainly persuade one or the other long-term investor with a focus on sustainable investments to take a closer look at the share.

Due to the short course history, there is actually not much left to get an idea of ​​the group.

Anyone who has been there since the start of the stock exchange should be relaxed.

After Daimler Truck went public on December 10, 2021 (opening price: EUR 28), the price initially rose to EUR 35.75 by mid-January 2022.

After several weeks of sideways movement, the prices slipped.

At the beginning of March, Daimler Truck marked its lowest level to date at 20 euros.

By the beginning of June, the price had risen again to EUR 30, which was followed by another slump to EUR 25 by mid-June.

In the meantime, the listings have been able to stabilize around this price mark.

Due to the very short history of the stock market at Daimler Truck, it is currently not possible to assess whether the share is suitable as a long-term investment.

However, the sharp price correction between February and March of around 40 percent at its peak suggests that this is a value that is sensitive to the economy and that larger price fluctuations can also be expected in the future.

There have been various positive comments from international analysis firms in recent weeks.

The Canadian bank RBC Capital, for example, left the rating at "Outperform" with a target price of EUR 53.

JP Morgan, on the other hand, left the rating ahead of the quarterly figures expected in August at “Overweight” with a price target of EUR 48.