Shares of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE: TM) have risen sharply in early trading today after the company reported that its profit tripled in the September. TM also raised its full-year earnings forecast.
For the quarter ended September 30, 2012, Toyota reported net profit of 257.9 billion yen ($3.2 billion), up from 80.4 billion yen reported for the same period in the previous year. The company’s third-quarter profit beat consensus forecast of 238 billion yen ($3 billion).
Sales for the third quarter rose 18% to 5.4 trillion ($67.6 billion), driven by demand for the company’s vehicles across all major regions. However, the company’s sales fell in China as a dispute over some islands between Japan and China led to a boycott of Japanese cars in China in recent months. The company sold 2.2 million vehicles around the world in the quarter ended September 30, 2012, up from 1.8 million sold in the same period in the previous year.
Following the strong results, Toyota also raised financial forecasts for fiscal year 2013. The company now expects consolidated net revenue of 21.3 trillion yen, operating income of 1.05 trillion yen, income before taxes of 1.18 trillion yen and net income of 780 billion yen. The company expects to sell 8.75 million vehicles for the full year. This is down from previous forecast of 8.8 million. The downward revision is mainly due to the drop in sales in China and uncertainty in Europe.
Satoshi Ozawa, Toyota’s Executive Vice President, said that although currency fluctuations have continued to affect TM’s profits and the effect of current Japan-China relations on the company’s sales is still unclear, the company has revised the forecast it announced at the end of the first quarter to reflect the progress it has been making in its profit improvement activities.
Toyota shares opened sharply higher today. At last check, the stock was trading 2.56% higher at $79.79.
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