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Toyota Sharpens Earnings Guidance on Weakening Yen

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Toyota Motors (TM - Free Report) has increased their year’s earnings forecast by 9.7%. From a previous 1.55 trillion yen, the Japanese automaker expects year-ending March profits to be 1.7 trillion yen ($15.08 billion). Toyota also announced a higher operating profit by 150 billion yen to 1.85 trillion yen.

These sharpening outlooks are due to cost cutting and a weakening yen. The company has been increasingly sourcing their car parts locally, which is driving down production expenses. Despite rhetoric from President Donald Trump, Toyota announced that they have “no immediate plans” to change their production policy. The company imported about half the 2.449 million cars they sold in the United States last year which 26% of those were from Japan.

The yen has been weakening against the dollar for the past few years now. This has been one of Toyota’s biggest factors of growth of profit. Managing Officer of Toyota, Tetsuya Otake, stated that if the dollar strengthens by one yen, it adds 40 billion yen to its annual operating profit.

In preparation, Toyota has been hedging the possibility of the yen strengthening below 100 to the dollar; this occurred last in August of 2016. To mitigate this risk, the company has been increasingly marketing their locally produced cars in hopes of generating further yen denominated revenues.

Toyota closed down $1.18 to $113.31 today on the New York Stock Exchange. However, in after hours trading shortly after close, their stock is up 1.05% to $114.50.


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