Equipment finance industry confidence higher in February

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation has released its February 2021 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI) today. The index reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $900 billion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 64.4, an increase from the January index of 59.6.

When asked about the outlook for the future, MCI-EFI survey respondent Brad Peterson, CEO, Channel Partners Capital, said, “Although we believe the 2021 PPP program will suppress capital needs for a short period of time among SMBs, we’re expecting a positive rebound from a year’s worth of pent-up pandemic demand. Our post-pandemic portfolio looks fantastic and we expect the strong performance to continue through 2022. We believe this is the time to invest in SMB marketplace opportunities.”

The overall MCI-EFI is 64.4, an increase from the January index of 59.6. When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 46.2% of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, up from 33.3% in January. 46.2% believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, a decrease from 59.3% the previous month. 7.7% believe business conditions will worsen, a slight increase from 7.4% in January.

Other findings include:

•  42.3% of the survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase over the next four months, up from 33.3% in January. 53.9% believe demand will “remain the same” during the same four-month time period, a decrease from 59.3% the previous month. 3.9% believe demand will decline, down from 7.4% in January.
•  23.1% of the respondents expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months, up from 18.5% in January. 76.9% of executives indicate they expect the “same” access to capital to fund business, a decrease from 81.5% last month. None expect “less” access to capital, unchanged from the previous month.
•  When asked, 38.5% of the executives report they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, up from 25.9% in January. 61.5% expect no change in headcount over the next four months, a decrease from 66.7% last month. None expect to hire fewer employees, down from 7.4% in January.
•  None of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “excellent,” unchanged from the previous month. 76.9% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “fair,” down from 77.8% in January. 23.1% evaluate it as “poor,” up from 22.2% last month.