Market Currents

• Wednesday, December 23, 2009

• 09:12 AM Ford (F) says its hybrid sales are up 67% YTD, even as industry-wide sales are fell 11%. Sales analyst George Pipas: "We are seeing a growing number of conquest sales, many of them from customers coming from import brands, mostly Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC)." F +1.1% premarket. 2 Comments

• Tuesday, December 1, 2009

• 14:25 PM Honda (HMC) November U.S. sales: +5.5% to 74,003 vehicles (percentages based on daily selling rate; units down 2.9% in total). Honda Division +3.7% to 65,234; Acura Division +20.8% to 8,769. Total car sales -4.4%, to 39,765. Truck sales +20% to 34,238. Accord up 7.5% to 17,239. (PR) 2 Comments

• Wednesday, November 25, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: INCY +9%. JCG +7%. TIF +6%. SVA +6%. HMC +5%. GSS +4%. HL +4%.
  Losers: CONN -12%. SAY -11%. CWTR -7%. SQNM -5%. Comment!

• Tuesday, November 3, 2009

• 14:40 PM Honda (HMC) October U.S. sales: -4% to 85,502 vehicles (percentages based on daily selling rate). Honda Division -3.6%; Acura Division -7%. Total car sales -4.4%, to 44,537. Light trucks -2.3% to 31,214. Accord up 13.1% to 23,210. (PR) 1 Comment

• Tuesday, October 27, 2009

• 18:45 PM Ford (F) remains the only U.S. carmaker to attain top-10 status in Consumer Reports' much-anticipated yearly reliability survey, coming in at No. 10. Scion took top spot, followed by Honda (HMC), Toyota (TM) and Infiniti (NSANY). Least reliable brands: Chrysler, Cadillac, Dodge and Jeep. 3 Comments
• 08:12 AM Honda (HMC): FQ2 profit of ¥54B (-56%) beats consensus by ¥11B. U.S. vehicle sales -25% to 300K. Sees full-year net income of ¥155B, almost triple its previous forecast, and global sales of 3.4M, up 3.2%. (Bloomberg) Comment!

• Thursday, October 1, 2009

• 15:05 PM Honda (HMC) September U.S. sales: -23.3% to 77,229 vehicles. Car sales -20.4% to 41,982; light trucks -25.4% to 27.877. Acura -30.3% to 7,259. (all figures on daily selling rate; PR) Comment!

• Monday, September 7, 2009

• 15:04 PM According to company insiders, Honda (HMC) will likely launch an all-electric car within a few years. Honda continues to believe that hybrids have the most promising future, noting key technologies for all-electric cars are still premature, but it's also worried about being left in the dust of GM, Toyota (TM), Nissan (NSANY) and others. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, September 1, 2009

• 14:23 PM Honda (HMC) August U.S. sales: +14.2% to 161,439 vehicles, vs. consensus of +3.2%, its second-best month ever. Honda Fit +194.1% to 13,593; Civic +49.6% to 43,294; CR-V +58.3% to 30,284. (PR) Comment!

• Monday, August 31, 2009

• 15:55 PM The motors and batteries for many hybrid cars rely on a rare group of metals, and experts are expecting a supply crunch. This could spell bad news for hybrid car makers like Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC) and Ford (F). 2 Comments

• Monday, August 3, 2009

• 13:13 PM Honda (HMC) July U.S. Sales: -17.3% to 114,690. Truck sales -20.6% to 37,996. (MW) Comment!

• Wednesday, July 29, 2009

• 09:55 AM Shares of Japanese carmakers are up after positive earnings surprises from Nissan and Honda, even as Japan retail sales fell for the 10th straight month. After months of falling sales and production cuts, Japan's auto industry seems to be benefiting from government cash-for-clunker incentives. HMC +6.1%. NSANY +2.8%. TM +1.3%. Comment!
• 06:47 AM Honda (HMC): FQ1 net profit fell 96% to ¥7.56B ($79.9M), vs. consensus of -¥56.4B, and vs. a FQ4 net loss of ¥186.1B. Sees full-year earnings of ¥55B, down 60% from last year, but 38% higher than its previous outlook of ¥40B. Revenue of ¥2T (-30%). (WSJ) Comment!

• Monday, July 13, 2009

• 08:30 AM Honda (HMC) plans to expand its domestic hybrid offerings to better compete with Toyota (TM) and its Prius. Comment!

• Wednesday, July 1, 2009

• 14:30 PM Honda (HMC +0.9%) June sales -29.5% to 100,420; company says it sees "signs of strength" in light truck segments. (MarketWatch) Comment!

• Tuesday, June 23, 2009

• 07:57 AM Honda (HMC) will cut the number of models it sells only in Japan to trim development costs. Honda sells 28 models in Japan, a market which isn't growing, vs. 18 models in the U.S. and 9 in China. Comment!