Honda Motor Co. Rating Increased to Outperform at Zacks (HMC)

Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) was upgraded by Zacks from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday. The firm currently has a $38.00 price target on the stock.

Zacks’ analyst wrote, “Honda expects to benefits from its global network and business expansion in Asia.
The automaker is well positioned to take advantage of stricter environment regulations given its long-term focus on hybrid vehicles. Given these factors and favorable model mix and effective cost reduction measures, the company anticipates a revival in sales and profits for fiscal 2013. Although it missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.14 per share, the company posted a steep 61% increase in profits to 71.6 billion ($871 million) in the fourth quarter of the fiscal 2012. As such, we have upgraded the recommendation on the shares of the company to Outperform from Neutral and set a target price of $38.00.”

Separately, analysts at Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) upgraded shares of Honda Motor Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note to investors on Monday, May 7th.

Honda Motor Co. traded down 0.87% on Monday, hitting $31.92. Honda Motor Co. has a 1-year low of $27.52 and a 1-year high of $41.23. The company has a market cap of $57.529 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86.

Honda Motor Co, Ltd. (Honda) develops, produces and manufactures a variety of motor products, ranging from small general-purpose engines and scooters to specialty sports cars.

Source;
http://zolmax.com/honda-motor-co-rating-increased-to-outperform-at-zacks-hmc/2910189/

Japanese Stocks Advance, Led by Honda, on Earnings Confidence

By Anna Kitanaka
Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks rose for the first time in three days, led by automakers, after Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its rating on Honda Motor Co. to “buy,” and after General Electric Co. of the U.S. beat earnings estimates.

Honda climbed 3.8 percent. Elpida Memory Inc., the world’s third-largest maker of computer-memory chips, jumped 5.1 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its investment rating. Yaskawa Electric Corp., a maker of electronic controls, leapt 4.5 percent after the company swung to profit. Tokyo Tomin Bank Ltd., a regional lender based in Japan’s capital, tumbled 6.1 percent, leading a decline by banks.

“There are strong expectations that earnings will improve,” said Koichi Kurose, chief strategist in Tokyo at Resona Bank Ltd., which manages about $57 billion in assets. “As we’re seeing increasing earnings abroad, Japanese exporter shares are rising.”

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 0.7 percent to 10,345.11 at the close in Tokyo. The broader Topix index also gained 0.7 percent to 917.18, after earlier falling as much as 0.1 percent. About three shares rose for each that fell on the Topix.

The Topix has gained 2 percent this year, driving the average price of shares in the index to 15.8 times estimated earnings on average, close to the highest level since August.

General Electric
The gauge sank 1 percent in 2010 as the yen rose to its strongest annual average level against the dollar since currencies became freely traded in 1971, dimming the outlook for export earnings. Confidence in a global recovery was also damped by Europe’s debt crisis, China’s steps to curb inflation and concern U.S. growth will weaken.

In the U.S., the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased 0.2 percent in New York on Jan. 21 after General Electric, the world’s biggest maker of jet engines, medical-imaging equipment and power turbines, reported fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations of 36 cents a share, exceeding the average estimate from analysts of 32 cents. General Electric Co. is considered a proxy for world growth.

Automakers as a group were the biggest boost to the Topix among the index’s 33 industry groups.

Honda Leads Gains
Honda, Japan’s second-largest automaker, gained 3.8 percent to 3,400 yen, the biggest contributor to the Nikkei 225’s advance. The company was raised to “buy” from “neutral” by Nomura analyst Masataka Kunugimoto, who estimated the shares may reach 4,300 yen within the next 12 months. Honda’s U.S. sales are looking favorable, and earnings may increase, Kunugimoto wrote in a Jan. 21 report.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, gained 1.3 percent to 3,415 yen. Nissan Motor Co., the third-biggest automaker in Japan, climbed 0.7 percent to 830 yen.

“Earnings in the U.S. are improving,” said Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager at Tokyo-based Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Co. In Japan, “there are expectations that domestic companies will also post good results.”

Elpida rose 5.1 percent to 1,134 yen. Goldman Sachs increased its investment rating to “buy” from “neutral” and boosted its share-price estimate to 1,350 yen from 950 yen.

Yaskawa Electric Corp., a Japanese machinery maker, jumped 4.5 percent to 867 yen. The company turned to a nine-month net income of 4.32 billion yen from a year-earlier loss on a 41 percent surge in sales.

Banks Decline
Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru-brand cars, advanced 1.3 percent to 690 yen. The company’s operating profit for the fiscal year to March 31 will likely triple to about 80 billion yen, the Nikkei newspaper reported. That compares with the company’s earlier forecast of 70 billion yen, Nikkei said.

The Topix Banks Index fell 0.4 percent today, the biggest decline among the Topix’s industry groups.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest bank, dropped 0.5 percent to 441 yen. Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the No. 3, declined 1.2 percent to 164 yen.

Tokyo Tomin Bank tumbled 6.1 percent to 1,168 yen. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its investment rating on the stock to “underweight” from “neutral.”

The Topix bank index rose 2.7 percent this year through Jan. 21, double the broader Topix index’s 1.3 percent gain in the same period. The bank sub-group’s relative-strength index, a measure of price momentum, was at 71.27 on Jan. 19, above the 70 threshold that some traders use as an indicator to sell.

“Bank shares have been on a steady climb, so now people are cautious about the price and want to capture their earnings,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, assistant manager at the investment strategy department at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo.

-- With assistance from Kotaro Tsunetomi. Editors: Sam Waite, John McCluskey.

Source;
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-24/japanese-stocks-advance-led-by-honda-on-earnings-confidence.html

Honda hybrid sports car reportedly in high demand

Interesting....
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Honda Motor Co.'s /quotes/comstock/!7267 (JP:7267 3,300, +30.00, +0.92%) /quotes/comstock/13*!hmc/quotes/nls/hmc (HMC 36.52, +0.20, +0.55%) CR-Z hybrid sports car has drawn more than 7,000 orders only two weeks since its Feb. 26 debut, according to a report Friday. The Nikkei business daily reported that the orders represent about 60% of the annual sales target for the car of 12,000 units. The CR-Z, a gasoline-electric hybrid, can travel up to 25 kilometers (15 miles) on a liter (0.26 gallons) of gas, according to the report.

Source;
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/honda-hybrid-sports-car-reportedly-in-high-demand-2010-03-11

The Pretty Side Of Honda

There has been a lot of, well, criticism, of Honda on these pages lately, including allegations that Honda had lost it. So far, more that fifty of the Best & Brightest offered advice on how to save the company from certain annihilation.

Today’s Nikkei says “domo arigato gozaimashita” for all the support, and runs a different story: “Honda Motor Co. has emerged from the economic turmoil at the head of the pack, thanks in good part to a nimble production network that can meet the latest consumer preferences at relatively low cost.” Here is why.

According to the Nikkei, Honda retooled its U.S. production operations in a mere six months last year, responding to the sudden demand for smaller vehicles. As the chart shows, the realignment translated into a substantial share of the U.S. subcompact market.

It is also the reason for Honda being “the only major Japanese maker likely to score a net profit” in the current fiscal year, says the Nikkei.

Capacity utilization rates at some facilities have been boosted by as much as 20 percent. In the current fiscal year, which ends March, Honda will most likely report an overall utilization rate of 79 percent, highest among Japan’s three largest automakers. In the industry, anything above 80 percent utilization is considered healthy. Given the worldwide capacity utilization, estimated to be between 50 and 60 percent, 79 percent are short of a miracle.

Honda can make small and large vehicles on the same production lines. All it needs is a quick change of welding pieces, paint nozzles and other components.

Not only the Nikkei is impressed with Honda, the stock market likes Honda as well. At the time of this typing, Honda’s stock (HMC) changed hands for $36.90 at the New York Stock Exchange, eclipsing its pre-carmageddon highs.

Honda may have “ugly styling highlighted by uglier front grilles; a hybrid system that simply isn’t as advanced and effective as Toyota’s; a bloated Accord; no new direct injection engines; lots of muddling about future EVs; and a misplaced optimism about fuel cells,” as Edward Niedermeyer wrote it.

However, Honda’s stock chart, a market capitalization of $67.7b, and a near-pornographic P/E of 47.92 on the other hand are a sight to be seen. Maybe you shouldn’t have bought the Insight. But you would be very pleased if you would have had the foresight to buy the Honda stock in December of 2008. You could have doubled your money.

Or, looking at the chart and all that’s wrong with the company, maybe it’s time to short HMC?

Source;
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/the-pretty-side-of-honda/#more-342097

Honda Ends U.S. Motorcycle Production

Did not see this coming....
In a strange juxtapositioning of the auto and motorcycle industries -- and a business decision that marks the end to an era -- Honda Motor Co. Ltd. this week said that after three decades, it ended production of motorcycles made in the U.S.

The Honda of America Manufacturing Marysville, Ohio, motorcycle assembly plant was in 1979 the start of the company's manufacturing footprint in the U.S. The HAM site eventually expanded to auto and engine production as well as major stamping and casting activities.

At the time of its closing, the motorcycle plant was exclusively building Honda's flagship motorcycle, the Goldwing. The reported capacity was about 70,000 units and Goldwings sold in the U.S. now will be imported from Japan.

But with U.S. motorcycle consumption on a steady decline for the past four years, Honda is said to have decided the advantages of localized production had diminished. The move is a contrast with Honda's recent automotive endeavors, which have created a dedicated North American research and development and engineering operations and the steady expansion of U.S. manufacturing capacity, including the construction of a second automotive assembly plant near Marysville in East Liberty, Ohio.

In 1982, Honda began making the Accord in Marysville and in 1985 started production of motorcycle engines. A year later, a plant in nearby Anna, Ohio, began assembly of auto engines, the first being a four-cylinder for the Civic; the same year, the company added a second auto assembly line in Marysville.

Honda continues with U.S. production of various off-road powersport vehicles and power-equipment pieces, but none of the powersports models are two-wheelers. -- Bill Visnic


Source;
http://www.autoobserver.com/2009/07/honda-ends-us-motorcycle-production.html

The Nation's Best Car Company Is Not in Detroit

It’s a little bewildering that taxpayers have been forced to shuffle billions of dollars into Chrysler and General Motors (GM: 1.14*, +0.00, +0.00%) when there are profitable, innovative and successful car companies out there — ones that don’t simply make better investments but also better cars.

With a market capitalization of $50 billion dollars, roughly 50 times the size of GM, I believe the best car maker — and car stock — is undoubtedly Honda (HMC: 29.11*, +0.57, +1.99%), whose Accord was the top-selling U.S. vehicle in April.

Before the flag wavers start griping about the importance of “buying American,” consider that Honda was the first Japanese firm to build cars in the U.S. starting 50 years ago. The impact has been overwhelmingly positive: According to a study from the Center for Automotive Research, more than 367,000 private sector jobs and $17 billion in annual wages are generated thanks to Honda’s U.S. operations.

Nobody makes a fuss about buying televisions made in Korea or coats sewn in Mexico. And if you lament the decline of the big three domestic auto makers, remember that, like Wal-Mart, it's American consumers who’ve made Honda a success in America. The automotive space is extremely competitive. Honda’s success is based on the company’s brand, high-quality production and diversity of products, precisely why there’s a good chance one of them is sitting in your driveway right now. Of course, Honda’s business is bigger than cars. The company also makes motorcycles, engines, robots…and even airplanes.

That’s why the president’s recent suggestion that, “If you are considering buying a car, I hope it will be an American car,” misses the wholly-beneficial reality of free trade. Honda’s success in selling cars in America has enriched the Honda Corporation but also the consumers who’ve bought them, employees who’ve made them and shareholders who’ve invested in them. Unlike a bailout or subsidy, trade is not a zero-sum game.

Last year, the company broadcast an inspiring, first-of-a-kind three minute advertisement on British television that showed a skydiving team forming the letters “H-O-N-D-A” live as they plummeted over Spain.

Just months later, Chrysler was reduced to taking out stark, black, full-page ads in major newspapers thanking America for its “investment” (read: involuntary bailout) in the company, which, as we pointed out last week, is essentially already gone.

An innovative and outstanding company, Honda’s soaring success should be commended. And for a long-term investor looking a few years out, I consider the stock an unequivocal “buy.”

Source;
http://www.smartmoney.com/Investing/Stocks/The-Nations-Best-Car-Company-Its-not-in-Detroit/

Honda (HMC) may outrun the recession

No large car company is going to do well as the global recession deepens. But the one best positioned to move through the tough period is Honda (NYSE: HMC). It did not go through the global factory expansion that has stretched Toyota's (NYSE: TM) resources. It builds small, quality, fuel-efficient cars that have gained more and more market share in almost ever major country.

Results out of China say something about Honda's relative success. According toThe Wall Street Journal, "Chery Automobile Co., China's most successful independent producer and marketer of cars without a foreign partner, said January sales rose, and forecast a sales increase this year, while Honda Motor Co. said January car sales in China increased 17% from a year earlier." Total car sales dropped almost 8% in the world's most populous nation last month.

Based on data from 2008, most foreign car companies selling vehicles in China had drops in sales year-over-year. That makes Honda's performance all the more impressive. China is now the second largest car market in the world, after the U.S. The penetration of cars per household is obviously much lower than in America. In an economic recovery China vehicle sales ought to move back to double-digit growth. The Big Three may not have the financial resources to take full advantage of that, which makes Honda's position even better.

Which car company's shares are likely to do best over the next year? It would not be smart to bet against Honda.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Source;
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/02/18/honda-hmc-may-outrun-the-recession/

Toyota (TM) And Honda (HMC) Finally Lock Up US Market

American car companies hoped the day would never come. Data from October is expected to show the market shares of Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) for US vehicle sales is expected to be over 30%.

GM's share is only expected to be 21%, so it may lose first place in its home market to Toyota for the first time, ever.

While the auto sales environment may not get much worse, American car companies may not have the capital for product development, marketing, and auto financing to allow them to get share back when conditions improve. Toyota and Honda have balance sheets and cost structures which will allow them to get though the crisis without ruining their ability to compete in future years.

October sales figures may be so bad that the race for market share may be secondary to simply surviving through the downturn. Car industry expert Edmunds expects total units sold to drop 29% to 872,000 vehicles. The would be the lowest number for a single month since January 1992.

If the rate of 900,000 new vehicles a month becomes a regular occurrence, the odds that Ford (F) and GM (GM) make it through next year as independent companies are nil.

Edmunds forecasts that the average year-over-year drop for US automakers in October will be 40% with GM dropping the most--42.9%.
Douglas A. McIntyre

Source;

http://www.247wallst.com/2008/11/toyota-tm-and-h.html