An update has just come out today on Nissan Motor Company (NSANY), in which senior auto industry analyst Paul Raman, CFA is restating his Hold rating on the company. We excerpted the following details:
'Nissan has been accelerating its growth and increasing market share with the aid of several successful product launches. The company has various new launches planned for the current fiscal year. The current Nissan Value-Up plan targets to attain sales of 4.2 million units by fiscal 2009 and a minimum 20% return on invested capital.
'Currently, Nissan is trading at a P/E multiple of 10.9x our 2008 EPADR [earnings per American Depositary Receipt] estimate of $1.86. As Nissan has a zero net automotive debt, its fundamentals appear solid. However, we maintain our Hold rating, as the company faces a continued challenging environment characterized by higher incentives, higher commodity prices and raw material shortages.
'Additionally, the proposed launch of new vehicles in North America will raise the risk of incentive growth. Keeping the above factors in mind, we believe the stock can move a notch up to trade at a higher P/E multiple, 11.8x 2008 earnings. Thus, we rate the stock a Hold and have estimated our six-month target price at $22.00.'
Read the full analyst report on NSANY.
Get real-time market insights and profitable stock recommendations from the team of analysts at Zacks Equity Research. See all todays Analyst Blog entries on Zacks.com.