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

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – February 12, 2016 – 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 Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (HMC) and Ford Motor Co. (F).

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Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Auto Stock Roundup: Tesla, Toyota Miss Earnings

A few major earnings releases and defective airbags were the biggest newsmakers in the auto sector over the last week. Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) reported significantly wider-than-expected adjusted loss and a miss on revenues for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2015. Also, Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) missed both earnings and revenue estimates.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC), Daimler, Volkswagen and BMW announced additional recalls related to defective Takata airbag inflators. Further, a defect was reported by Continental Automotive Systems in its airbag control units, which could lead to the recall of nearly 5 million vehicles globally.

Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. (F) reported strong China sales data for January.

(Read the previous roundup here: Auto Stock Roundup for Feb 4, 2016 )

Recap of the Week’s Most Important Stories

1. Tesla incurred adjusted loss (excluding one-time items other than stock-based compensation expense) of $1.29 per share in the fourth quarter of 2015, much wider than adjusted loss of 48 cents in the year-ago quarter. Moreover, the loss was significantly wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 34 cents per share.

Adjusted revenues improved 59% to $1.75 billion but missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.80 billion. Tesla delivered 17,478 cars including 206 Model X vehicles in the reported quarter, in line with the expectation of 17,000–19,000 vehicle deliveries.

The automaker is targeting 80,000–90,000 vehicle deliveries in 2016, including 16,000 in the first quarter. It also hopes to achieve positive net cash flow and non-GAAP profitability for the full year.

2. Toyota recorded earnings of ¥199.54 per share ($3.30 per ADR) in third-quarter fiscal 2016 (ended Dec 31, 2015) compared with ¥189.77 per share ($3.33 per ADR) earned in third-quarter fiscal 2015 (ended Dec 31, 2014). Earnings per ADR missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.44. Consolidated revenues increased 2.4% year over year to ¥7.34 trillion ($60.66 billion) in the third quarter of fiscal 2016. However, the figure fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $63.54 billion.

Toyota reaffirmed its consolidated revenue guidance of ¥27.5 trillion ($229.17 billion) for fiscal 2016 that reflects a 1% improvement over fiscal 2015. Net earnings are expected at around ¥2.27 trillion ($18.92 billion) or ¥723.60 per share ($12.06 per ADR). The net income guidance reflects 4.4% improvement over fiscal 2015 (read more: Toyota Misses Q3 Earnings and Revenue Estimates ).

3. Honda announced the recall of another 5.7 million vehicles related to the defective Takata airbag inflators. These include 440,000 vehicles in Japan and 2.2 million in the U.S. Apart from Honda, Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and BMW AG also recalled around 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. last week, related to these airbag inflators.

The defective Takata airbags can explode, shooting metal fragments and injuring passengers, in case of a car crash. There have been at least 11 fatalities and 139 injuries globally due to these faulty airbags.

4. Continental Automotive Systems reported that the airbag control units supplied by it for five million vehicles made by six auto manufacturers, including Honda, Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz, maybe be defective. These include around 1.5–2 million vehicles in the U.S. Per Continental Automotive, the possible failure, due to corrosion, of electronic systems built from 2006 to 2010 may stop the airbags from deploying in case of a crash or may cause them to accidentally deploy when not needed.

5. Ford’s China sales surged 36% to a record 130,832 vehicles in Jan 2016. The company’s passenger car joint venture, Changan Ford Automobile, recorded a 58% year-over-year increase in vehicle sales to a record 111,856 units in the month. However, Ford's commercial vehicle investment in China, Jiangling Motors Corporation, sold 17,255 vehicles in Jan 2016, down 24% over Jan 2015.

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