Earthquakes slow auto production

Article Excerpt

Recent earthquakes in southern Japan have forced Toyota and Honda to suspend production at their auto assembly plants in the region. The shutdown will have a greater impact on Toyota, which builds nearly half of its cars in Japan compared to just 17% for Honda. It will take several weeks to resume normal operations, but the closures should have less of an impact on their long-term prospects. TOYOTA MOTOR CO. ADRs $106 (New York symbol TM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $159.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.toyota.com) is the world’s largest carmaker. In its fiscal 2016 third quarter, which ended December 31, 2015, Toyota sold 2.22 million vehicles worldwide, down 2.1% from a year earlier. North American sales rose 2.2%. However, sales fell 4.5% in Europe, 1.0% in Japan and 3.2% in other parts of Asia. Revenue gained 1.9%, to $61.0 billion from $59.9 billion…