Toyota's Dominance Shows in Share of Global Auto Market-Cap Pie

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) is currently trading near its all-time high and consistently establishing new highs; although there is some profit taking intra-day with its ADRs down 1.15% at $113.49. Its ordinary shares (Tokyo: 7203) have a market cap of $205 billion when converted at Y117/US$1. This puts Toyota ahead of household names like Wal-Mart (WMT), Procter Gamble (PG), Pfizer (PFE), and Johnson and Johnson (JNJ). There are only seven firms that trade in the U.S. with a larger market cap, such as the top three: Exxon Mobil (XOM) $390b, General Electric (GE) $350b, and Microsoft (MSFT) $280b.

More importantly, when comparing Toyota to its industry, the superiority of Japan's largest auto manufacturer and soon-to-be third largest by units sold in the U.S. is clearly evident as its market cap is equal to nearly 43% of the publicly traded companies in the global auto industry. And just last week Mitsubishi UFJ Securities gave Toyota an 8,000 yen price target, which when converted into US$ and adjusted for its ADR listing ratio equals $135+, adding potentially $40b more to its market cap. See the chart and table below.

Source: Market cap data from Reuters.com (as of 4/18/06)