The beginning of the holiday shopping season inevitably boosts auto sales. This year too, attractive deals pulled up November U.S. auto sales by 1.2% year over year.
Meanwhile, Thor Industries Inc. THO reported good first-quarter fiscal 2016 financial results, while Honda Motor Co., Ltd. HMC and Toyota Motor Corp. TM reported their production data for October. Among other major developments, Ford Motor Co. F announced a $1.3 billion investment in its Kentucky Truck Plant and Lear Corp. LEA announced the acquisition of an automotive technology company.
(Read last to last week’s recap here: Auto Stock Roundup for Nov 26, 2015)
Recap of the Week’s Most Important Stories
1. U.S. light-vehicle sales increased 1.2% year over year to 1.3 million units in Nov 2015. Most automakers reported sales growth even though sales volume in Nov 2014 was quite strong and there were two less selling days in Nov 2015 than in Nov 2014. Attractive holiday deals played an important role in boosting sales.
2. Thor Industries reported first-quarter fiscal 2016 (ended Oct 31, 2015) earnings of 97 cents per share that surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 85 cents. Earnings increased 33% from 73 cents per share recorded in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
Revenues rose 12% year over year to $1.03 billion, marginally surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.02 billion. The year-over-year improvement was driven by higher sales of towable and motorized RVs, along with benefits from acquisitions (read more: Thor Q1 Earnings & Revenues Surpass Estimates, Rise Y/Y).
3. Ford announced that it will invest $1.3 billion in its Kentucky Truck Plant for the production of the 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty truck that will be sold from late 2016. The investment will be made in a new body shop, facility upgrades and retooling to build the truck. The company will also create 2,000 jobs to support the launch of the truck (read more: Ford to Invest $1.3B in Kentucky Plant for F-Series Truck).
4. Lear Corp. announced the acquisition of the automotive technology company, Arada Systems. Based in Troy, MI, Arada Systems focuses on Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure communications. Lear Corp. expects this acquisition to boost growth in its Electrical business as the rising demand for connectivity and communication features in vehicles is leading to greater need for data and signal management (read more: Lear Corp. Acquires Automotive Technology Company).
5. Honda’s worldwide production volume for Oct 2015 was 413,779 units, up 2.8% from the figure recorded in Oct 2014. Production outside Japan increased 3.6% to 338,331 units, which was a record high for the month of October. Meanwhile, production in Japan fell 0.7% to 75,448 units in October, marking the fifteenth successive month of decline. Toyota raised its total worldwide production by 0.1% year over year to 907,008 units in Oct 2015. The increase resulted from a 0.9% rise in production in Japan to 348,789 units, which offset a 0.4% decline in production outside Japan to 558,219 units.
Performance
The performance of auto stocks was mixed over the last one week. Toyota was leading the handful of gainers among the stocks listed below. Meanwhile, Harley-Davidson, Inc. HOG recorded the maximum loss.
AutoZone Inc. AZO remained the biggest gainer over the last six-month period once again, while Harley-Davidson was the worst performer over the longer term.
|
Company |
Last 1-Week Period |
Last 6 Months |
|
GM |
-1.7% |
-0.6% |
|
F |
-2.0% |
-6.2% |
|
TSLA |
+1.0% |
-6.8% |
|
TM |
+1.5% |
-8.5% |
|
HMC |
+1.0% |
-4.6% |
|
HOG |
-4.2% |
-12.6% |
|
AAP |
-3.9% |
+0.9% |
|
AZO |
-2.2% |
+12.8% |
What’s Next in the Auto Space?
AutoZone will report its first-quarter (ended Nov 21, 2015) financial results on Dec 8, 2015. Many automakers will report their Europe and China auto sales data for Nov 2015 in the coming weeks.
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