Fiat's Stock Rises 16% Today, After Closing a $4.35B Deal For Chrysler

While none of the European automakers manage to pass our knowledge leaders screen, today's news prompted us to take a closer look at the group.

Most members of the sub-industry managed to perform well over the last year:

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Valuations for the group have risen briskly in the last couple of years:

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But mostly due to an outlier (Porsche):

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On the balance sheet, debt has fallen over the last few years-- but so has investment in intellectual property:

(Net Debt as a % Capital)

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(Intellectual Property as a % Assets)

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More specifically, we see that BMW and Volkswagen are investing the most (R&D as a % of Sales) while Porsche, Fiat, and Renault lag the group:

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Volkswagen also stands out with respect to profitability metrics such as ROIC:

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Finally, in our point-and-figure chart work, the majority of this group's constituents appear to be attempting to break out of long established trading range patterns:

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