If you look at the valuations history of these consumer durables companies, they have historically been expensive. So chances of re rating are not there. Whatever investors make in these kind of companies comes through earnings. And that’s where the main problem lies with these companies.
Besides in case of AC, regrigerators etc, the market leaders are not the listed players. If I have to choose an AC for my home it would have to be Mitsubishi, or Daikin, or something similar. And the economy market has been captured by Samsung and LG. Even refrigerators are dominated by a lot of non listed players. And listed players like Blue star, and Voltas are also saddled by other businesses like the projects business.
And looking at the margins being allover the place over the years in these kind of names, I doubt if they really have significant pricing power. In such a scenario, I feel there are other better businesses to look at rather than get stuck in these names.
A lot of these names show charts that seem to be indicating poor structures. Johnson Hitachi corrected from highs of around 3500 to 1400 currently. Voltas also looks to have broken down below 1150. While these stocks may at some point of time make a comeback, now does not seem to be the time to be parked here.