Topic: Growth Stocks

TOYOTA MOTOR CO. ADRs $84 – New York symbol TM

TOYOTA MOTOR CO. ADRs $84 (New York symbol TM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $142.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.toyota.com) is the world’s largest carmaker based on sales. Japan is the company’s largest market, accounting for 28% of its revenue, followed by North America (26%), Asia (19%), Europe (9%) and the rest of the world (18%).

Toyota continues to recover from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which cut its production in Japan. In its fiscal 2013 second quarter, which ended September 30, 2012, Toyota sold 2.25 million vehicles, up 24.5% from 1.8 million a year earlier.

The higher car sales pushed up Toyota’s revenue by 32.7%, to $55.2 billion from $41.6 billion a year earlier. Earnings soared 255.7%, to $2.6 billion, or $1.66 per ADR (Each American Depositary Receipt represents two Toyota common shares). A year earlier, it earned $730.9 million, or $0.47 per ADR.

Toyota now feels it will sell v8.75 million cars and trucks for all of fiscal 2013. That’s down slightly from its earlier estimate of 8.8 million.

The company lowered its forecast because Chinese consumers are boycotting Japanese firms due to a dispute between the two countries over several small islands in the East China Sea. The economic slowdown in Europe is also weighing on car sales.

As well, the company recently recalled 2.8 million cars to fix defects in their steering shafts and water pumps. That’s in addition to an earlier recall of 7.4 million vehicles to fix faulty power-window switches. There have been no reports of accidents or injuries related to these flaws. Toyota did not say how much it would cost to repair these vehicles.

The company should earn $7.32 per ADR in fiscal 2013. The stock trades at 11.5 times that forecast.

Toyota is a hold.

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