Sales are stable - electric vehicle sales are up sharply, despite the gloomy situation in this category - but profitability is declining in both segments: operating income in the automotive segment is down by 19%, and in the credit segment by 13%.

This contraction - which affects the entire automotive sector after two buoyant years - was expected. In fact, on several occasions in recent years, as its share price languished around a low of seventy euros, MarketScreener highlighted the automaker's astonishing discount.

This could be approached in different ways. For example, BMW's market capitalization - still well controlled by the Quandt family - was less than the sum of the book values of its credit activities and its Chinese joint venture.

This implied that the automotive business - one of the best capitalized and most profitable in the sector, with margins worthy of Porsche and annual free cash flow regularly between EUR5 and EUR6 billion - was worth less than zero.

Beyond the somewhat overrated simplicity of these napkin-corner calculations, we were careful to point out that BMW would remain valued primarily by its shareholders in relation to its ability to pay dividends.

At current prices, the dividend yield exceeds 7%. The market therefore continues to view BMW more favorably than Stellantis, which is valued on the basis of a dividend yield in excess of 10%, even though it is better capitalized and generates higher sales with comparable margins.