Friday, May 8, 2009

Have you shorted a Toyota Lately?

clunkety clunk...

Told ya those June 75's P's @ 1.70 were a steal.

Sorry for setting the target too low.
3.00 each next week, was way too conservative.
Looking like 3.50ish today.
Posted by Erik at 9:02 AM

5 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 8, 2009 at 12:47 PM

    Excellent call on TM!

    ReplyDelete
  2. In Debt We TrustMay 8, 2009 at 4:30 PM

    TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Crippled by stagnant demand and a strong yen, Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO) Friday reported its first net loss in 59 years in the just-ended fiscal year and said it expects even deeper losses in the year to come.

    The world's biggest car maker by volume posted a net loss of Y436.94 billion in the fiscal year ended March, as it booked a net loss of Y765.8 billion, or about $7.74 billion, in its fiscal fourth quarter. The January-March loss was not only the company's biggest loss ever but one of the largest quarterly losses on record by a Japanese manufacturer.

    Toyota's fourth quarter net loss was wider than analysts' mean loss estimate of Y746.2 billion compiled by Thomson Reuters. The quarterly loss also compares with the Y316.8 billion profit that Toyota reported for the same period a year earlier.

    For the current fiscal year ending March 2010, Toyota expects an even greater net loss of Y550 billion.

    As the economic slowdown was so drastic and rapid, "regional diversification (in the company's earnings), which is our strength, didn't help. Our earnings deteriorated in all regions," Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said at a press conference.

    "The current severe environment will continue for the time being" as the company believes the global economy won't recover any time soon, he said.

    The dismal results from what was once one of the world's most profitable vehicle manufacturers highlights the extent of the auto industry's plight and bodes ill for Toyota's domestic counterparts that will release their earnings next week. Analysts expect Nissan Motor Co. to report losses Tuesday.

    Toyota follows other major global car makers in booking losses in the quarter ended March. Struggling U.S. player General Motors Corp. said Thursday that it logged a $6 billion loss, dragged down by bankruptcy jitters and a global sales slump.

    Likewise, Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. and BMW AG suffered losses in that quarter.

    As more they report losses, car makers are rolling out ambitious restructuring or reorganization plans. Italian car maker Fiat SpA is seeking to acquire assets of Chrysler, which filed for bankruptcy last week, and also GM's troubled Opel brand, while Porsche Automobil Holding SE and Volkswagen AG decided to merge operations to unite their 10 auto brands.

    For Toyota, Watanabe said his company will continue its partnership with GM in exchanging information about developing new technologies and a joint-venture factory in California.

    The company could reduce more costs than its targeted cut by Y800 billion, depending on steel price negotiations and potential subsidies by governments to promote buying of new fuel-efficient cars could also boost its vehicle sales, Koji Endo, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said.

    "Even so, this is still a bleak outlook," he said, referring to the company's projection of an operating loss of Y850 billion for this fiscal year, a sharper loss than the brokerage's estimate of an operating loss of Y550 billion.

    After Toyota released its earnings results, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term corporate credit ratings on the car maker to "AA" from "AA+," a long way off the "AAA" rating that the company boasted at one time.

    "The deterioration in global auto markets will continue to pressure Toyota's profitability and cash flow through at least the current fiscal year, and may delay a recovery in Toyota's operating and financial performance," S&P said.

    In the quarter ended March, Toyota posted an operating loss of Y682.5 billion, a sharp deterioration from an operating profit of Y396.7 billion a year earlier.

    Sales declined 46% to Y3.536 trillion in the three months ended March from Y6.567 trillion a year earlier.

    The maker of the Prius hybrid and the Corolla brand of cars as well as the upscale Lexus brand sold 7.57 million vehicles globally in the last fiscal year and expects its worldwide sales to fall to 6.50 million vehicles this fiscal year as it anticipates a 16% drop in sales in North America, a 13% decline in Europe and a 16% fall in Asia.

    Toyota slashed its annual dividend to Y100 for the last fiscal year from Y140 in the previous fiscal year - the first reduction since the fiscal year ended March 1995 when its earnings period was shortened to nine months due to a change in the earnings period.

    Also on Friday, Subaru brand car maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (7270.TO), an affiliate in which Toyota holds a 16% stake, said it posted a Y69.93 billion net loss in the fiscal year ended March, its first net loss in 15 years.

    Toyota reports its earnings under U.S. accounting standards.

    -By Yoshio Takahashi, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6895-7561; yoshio.takahashi@dowjones.com

    Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/nae/al?rnd=jxDoSq1%2FT99kZQdq18pKBw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

    (END) Dow Jones Newswires
    05-08-09 0603ET

    ReplyDelete
  3. In Debt We TrustMay 8, 2009 at 10:51 PM

    The thing is : if Toyota used US accounting standards - it should've made 100 billion dollars last quarter.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ErikMay 8, 2009 at 11:09 PM

    Thanks goodness then they DONT "cook the books" like we do.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ErikMay 8, 2009 at 11:10 PM

    China makes up for it, by manipulating the daily moves and gaps more tho...


    charts look like a 4 year old and his crayon after a box of gummie-bears

    ReplyDelete

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