Nissan beats the odds

Article Excerpt

NISSAN MOTOR CO. ADR $19.90 (Nasdaq symbol NSANY; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average) (310-771-3111; www.nissanmotors.com; Shares outstanding: 2.3 billion; Market cap: $45.8 billion; No dividends paid) reported that its earnings rose 3.2% in the three months ended December 31, 2011, to 82.7 billion yen ($1.07 billion U.S.) from 80.1 billion yen ($1.04 billion U.S.) a year earlier. That’s a particularly strong performance in light of the fact that flooding in Thailand cut Nissan’s production by 33,000 vehicles in the quarter. The strong yen also hurt the company’s profits from overseas sales. Even so, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of 71.7 billion yen. Nissan’s sales are rising in all of its markets outside Japan, including Europe and the U.S., as well as China and emerging markets like India, Russia and Brazil. Overall, the car-maker sold 1.2 million vehicles during the quarter, up 19.5% from a year earlier. Nissan Motor is still a buy. buy…