The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, General Motors, Ford Motor and Nissan Motor

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Sep 06, 2011, 09:30 ET

CHICAGO, Sept. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), Honda Motor Corp. (NYSE: HMC), General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Nissan Motor Co. (OTC: NSANY).

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Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:

Auto Sales Up a Meager 5%

Light vehicle sales in the U.S. increased a tad 5% to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 12.10 million vehicles in August from 11.52 million vehicles in the same month last year. All the major automakers posted a double-digit rise in sales except Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Honda Motor Corp. (NYSE: HMC).

The meager rise in sales was attributable to hurricane Irene hitting the sales of East Coast dealerships, lower discounts and incentives spending as well as disruptions in parts supply caused by the March disaster in Japan.

Auto information site Edmunds.com estimated that at least 10,000 sales were lost due to Irene. According to car pricing site TrueCar.com, total incentive spending per vehicle went down 4% to $2,663 per vehicle in August.

U.S. Automakers

Sales at General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) rose 18.2% to 218,479 vehicles. Impressive sales of Chevrolet Cruze car (which surpassed 20,000 units for the fifth straight month), Chevrolet Equinox (54% gain) and GMC Terrain (88%) crossovers drove the overall sales gain during the month.

Sales at Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) grew 11.3% to 175,220 vehicles driven by strong demand for fuel-efficient cars. Ford brand sales increased 16%, while Lincoln brand sales surged 25%.

Japanese Automakers

Sales at Toyota dipped 12.7% to 129,483 vehicles due to the shortages in parts supply caused by the twin disaster in Japan. Sales of its popular Prius hybrid slid 20%, while Corolla sales fell 19%. Sales of Camry decreased 2%. The company's new versions of the Camry go on sale next month.

Sales at Honda tumbled 24.3% to 82,321 vehicles due to the same reason. Sales of its best-selling Civic model plummeted 47% to 12,083 units, while sales of Accord and CR-V fell 24.3% and 14.8%, respectively.

However, sales at Nissan Motor Co. (OTC: NSANY) appreciated 19.2% to 91,541 vehicles during the month under study. Nissan Division sales grew 22.4% to 82,517 units while Infiniti vehicles sales fell 4.3% to 9,024 units. The company's sales were boosted by the launch of the all-new Versa sedan.

Looking Ahead

Auto sales are expected to recover once cash-back offers, low-interest loans and other attractive deals are expected to begin and Japanese automakers replenish their supplies in September and October.

The market conditions expect to normalize this fall. However, we are still worried about the high unemployment rate (9%) and surging food and clothing costs as well as consumer confidence, which have dropped to its lowest level in more than two years in August.

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