Here’s our Pick of the Month – October 2010

Article Excerpt

NISSAN MOTOR CO. ADR $16.66 (Nasdaq symbol NSANY; SI Rating: Above Average) (310-771-3111; www.nissanmotors.com; Shares outstanding: 2.1 billion; Market cap: $34.9 billion; No dividends paid) is Japan’s third-largest automaker after Toyota and Honda. Its car models include the Maxima, Sentra, Altima and Infiniti. Nissan also makes the Versa subcompact, the 370Z sports car, the Rogue crossover, and the Xterra and Pathfinder SUVs. Its major plants are in Japan, but it also has facilities in the U.S., U.K., Mexico, Spain, Australia and China. In its first quarter, which ended June 30, 2010, the company earned 106.6 billion yen ($1.2 billion U.S., or $0.57 per ADR) compared to a loss of 16.5 billion yen ($169 million U.S., or $0.14) a year earlier. Revenue rose 35.3%, to 2.1 trillion yen ($23.4 billion U.S.) from 1.5 trillion yen ($17.3 billion). That’s because Nissan sold 954,000 vehicles in the latest quarter, up 32% from a year earlier. Asian vehicle sales jumped 62.4% including a 68.2% gain in…