B&O share price at its highest level for 5 years?

Hi everyone,

I was looking on the Bloomberg website today (https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/BO:DC) and it appears that B&O's share price has just hit its highest level in over 5 years, at 133 DKK per share.

Maybe the shareholders know something we don't, or have the recent product launches (Beosound Shape, Beolab 50, Beoplay E8, Beovision Eclipse) really got the potential to propel the company forward into a new future?

As I (in common with many other Beoworlders) have staked my future on B&O's success, I would be interested to hear your thoughts!

Kind regards, Steve.

I'm painfully aware of this, as I cashed in all my stock last month when it seemed like a good idea - but not as good as it would have been today, for example. I had kept them since 2009...

No Steve I don't think shareholders know something we don't. They just aren't as prone to compulsive negativity as beoworlders often seem to be.

Financially the results and cash position of the business have improved significantly under both the current and previous CEOs.

The company has produced a flagship speaker to rival anything from the audiophile community to demonstrate its credentials as a serious audio player. It has followed that up with a more "affordable" version.

It's Play range has been so successful it is now nearly half the overall turnover. And there is talk of strengthening the overall brand proposition by simply branding everything Bang &Olufsen.

It's early days for the new tv but if Sheffield and Ealing are anything to go by, it's selling. And I suspect they will make a profit on it (although it's too expensive for me)

The multi room offering makes sense with the BS1 and 2 set to meet the needs of how many people now want to listen to music.

Bang & Olufsen's customers are not typical beoworlders. B&O will not make a successful business by pandering simply to the tastes of a few fanatics (in which category I very much include myself)

Just my own thoughts.

Duels:

Just my own thoughts.

Very much mine, too.

MM

Some interesting things happening lately, not sure exactly how they relate but I suspect there's something here:

B&O share prices are high, for no apparent reason (to many).

B&O has announced major pushes to get their product into "pro partners" which are not dealers but installers and custom shops, this is particularly true in the US as the number of dealers cannot possibly keep the brand alive here.

LG has just announced several initiatives to assist pro partners with design support and customization (kind of sounds like the support to B&O to help make the Eclipse). This is a major new focus.

The B&O Eclipse speaker bar seems to be easily severed to make a stand alone sound bar...something here with LG perhaps?

Maybe LG is going to use B&O as it's premium product for installers?

Or something else. I'd be willing to bet something is percolating behind what we can see, maybe B&O is going to become LGs premium brand.

Yes indeed, though bear in mind stock markets generally are at all time highs.

The real question is whether the stock has outperformed the broader (EU Stocks) average over the last few years. 

These comparisons are always sensitive to starting points, but if you start from around the end of 2015, B&O stock has indeed outperformed quiet a bit.

I pick that starting point, because its around then that investors and market generally had moved past worrying about the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, and that general valuation discount had narrowed quiet a bit, so its a reasonable assumption.

Just for context, since Jan 1 16 to now :

B&O stock is up over 50%

EU Stocks 50 (largest 50) is up around 15%.

There will be slightly less flattering comparisons, but i think the broader point remains.