Toyota Motor Corp. has the biggest disparity between corporate guidance and analysts’ average projection for fiscal full-year net income among the Topix Index’s top non-financial companies, reflecting robust expectations on the back of a weak yen for the carmaker, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.
All of the top 10 companies in the list with a market value of ¥500 billion ($3.3 billion) or more show higher market predictions for income for the fiscal period ending in March, according to the analysis, which is based on post-earnings projections by 10 or more analysts as of Nov. 22.
Combined, the companies in the analysis showed a total of ¥600 billion in difference between guidance and analysts’ predictions.
“The companies’ plans were set low due to the view that the economies of the US and China were seen slowing,” said Mitsushige Akino, senior executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. If results for the October-December change, “then stock prices may decline,” he said.
Toyota raised its outlook on Nov. 1, citing the weaker yen, which boosts income brought home, and better prices for raw materials. Although the carmaker raised its net income forecast by ¥1.37 trillion to ¥3.95 trillion, that still fell short of 11 analysts’ average projection by ¥261 billion.
Koji Endo, an analyst at SBI Securities Co., said that Toyota is already ahead of its plans to produce 10.1 million vehicles in the current fiscal year.
“This is their usual pattern of issuing conservative forecasts,” said Endo, who raised his projection for Toyota’s net income by ¥900 billion to ¥4.6 trillion on Nov. 20.
