Carmakers prepare for Trump policy changes

Article Excerpt

U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to impose new tariffs on vehicles made in Mexico and exported to the U.S. That could hurt earnings at Toyota, Honda and Ford (see next article). In response, they are trying to come up with plans to satisfy Trump’s concerns around trade. We’ll monitor the tariff situation and other international trade developments, but we continue to like the long-term outlook of all three of these automakers. TOYOTA MOTOR CO. ADRs $119 (New York symbol TM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $178.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.toyota. com) is the world’s largest automaker. In the fiscal 2017 second quarter, ended September 30, 2016, Toyota sold 2.19 million vehicles worldwide. That’s up 1.2% from a year earlier. More specifically, sales rose 10.3% in Japan, 5.5% in Europe and 17.2% in other parts of Asia. In North America, sales were flat, while they declined 21.1% for other…