The Bapcor Ltd (ASX: BAP) share price has had a positive start to the week.
In afternoon trade the automotive retailer's shares are up 3% to $6.48.
Why are Bapcor's shares pushing higher?
This afternoon Bapcor released its annual general meeting presentation ahead of its event in Sydney.
As well as providing the market with a reminder on its performance in FY 2018, Bapcor's management team released an update on its trading performance so far this financial year.
According to the release, all of Bapcor's many business segments are performing in line with expectations year to date. As a result, management has advised that it continues to expect revenue and profit growth this year.
In respect to profit, management has provided guidance of net profit after tax growth of between 9% and 14% above FY 2018's pro forma net profit after tax figure. This works out to be a net profit after tax of between $94.3 million and $107.5 million.
In addition to this, management confirmed that its first store in Asia opened in August in Thailand. This was closely followed by its second store which opened earlier this month.
Management sees a big opportunity for the company in the Thai market due to the 16 million cars on the road and the solid growth in car sales.
Should you invest?
I thought that Bapcor delivered one of the strongest results in the retail sector in FY 2018, so I'm pleased to see it continue its solid performance so far this year.
Based on its guidance for the year ahead, I estimate that its shares are trading at around 19x forward earnings.
While this isn't necessarily cheap for the sector, I believe the quality of its store network and its solid growth prospects make it worthy of the premium.
All in all, I would put Bapcor up there with Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL) and Adairs Ltd (ASX: ADH) as a retail share to consider.
