Search results for automotive
-
Posted
Oct 02 2009, 07:31 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Rumors, credible rumors, are beginning to circulate in the car industry and the automotive press, that Chrysler may not make it another year primarily due to its falling sales and growing financial losses at partner Fiat.
Chrysler sold a 62,197 cars in September, down 42% from the same month last year. The figure was down from 93,222 in August when traffic to dealers was pushed up by the ”cash for clunkers” program.
Chrysler’s problems may only be beginning and, if so, Fiat, the ”managing partner” among Chrysler’s owners may not be able to keep the American company intact.
Read More...
-
Posted
Sep 28 2009, 09:59 AM
by
Jim Jubak
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 I’m going to keep Maxwell Technologies (MXWL) in my Jubak’s Picks portfolio. Just when the stock hit my $18 target price (a little early since that was the target for March 2010), the company announced a huge win in the automotive market.
So I’m raising my target price with this update. (I think Maxwell Technologies is an example of a next market stock of the sort I described in this post. That’s another reason to hold onto these shares.)
On September 22, Maxwell Technologies reported that Continental AG (CTTAY), one of the biggest suppliers of electronic and mechanical systems to car makers, had picked Maxwell’s BOOSTCAP ultra capacitors as the energy storage component in a voltage stabilization system it has developed to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions by shutting off the engine when a car slows and then restarting it when the driver steps on the gas. Bing: How to reduce car emissions
Maxwell’s ultra capacitors store electricity to provide power for restarting the engine without overworking the battery.
Read More...
-
Posted
Sep 15 2009, 11:16 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Retail sales surprised to the upside on Tuesday thanks to the government's $3 billion "cash-for-clunkers" auto rebate program. Overall sales jumped 2.7% last month, which was above the consensus estimate of 2% and July's -0.2% result. Excluding vehicle sales and gasoline, retail sales rose just 0.6%.
All together, the cash-for-clunkers program pushed unit vehicle sales 25% higher to a 14.1 million annual rate last month -- a level not seen since May 2008. This was the largest one-month increase since the advent of 0% financing and other incentives in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Now, with dealer inventories at historic lows auto production is poised for a rebound -- which will help boost the economy in the third and fourth quarters. Deutsche Bank economists have already said that a surge in auto-related surge in retail sales could result in them marking up their Q3 GDP estimate by a full percentage point to 4%. But now the question is whether these purchases will temper demand going forward.
Read More...
-
Posted
Aug 07 2009, 03:54 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
GM says it will sell 1.4 million cars in China this year. It sold about 180,000 in the US in July. The critical difference between its costs in the two markets is that many of GM’s Chinese vehicles are made in facilities owned by joint ventures with local car companies. Others are produced in manufacturing facilities with low labor costs. And, GM’s sales are growing in China and dropping in the US.
GM’s expenses in it home market may be falling because it has gone through Chapter 11. Unfortunately, the firm’s sales in its home market were down about 20% last month, so its restructuring cost improvements may end up doing little good.
The No.1 US auto company might be better off setting up joint ventures with other large car companies with factories in America to produce its vehicles. Ford (F), Toyota (TM), and Chrysler already have substantial manufacturing capacity some of which is underutilized.
Read More...
-
Posted
Aug 06 2009, 11:58 AM
by
Jon Markman
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 We're finally seeing some brand-name companies hit the new high list. Among them this week were Whole Foods Markets, up 15% this week in a return to a level not seen since last May, Lumber Liquidators, a value-focused wood products company dependent on residential construction, up 17% this week to a new all-time high, and Dollar Thrifty Auto Group, now up more than 30x in six months.
It's great to see these smaller companies figure out how to survive and thrive in the downturn. For business junkies, this is like watching a series of MBA case studies unfold before our eyes in real time. You just have to be so impressed with their managers' ability to blunt the predations of lower revenue by cutting expenses, improving marketing and gaining share.
LL reported earnings that beat analyst estimates as its executives pushed into new markets, lowered costs and competed with its much larger rivals on price. It sells lumber at 2% to 40% cheaper than Home Depot and Lowe's by buying directly from mills and spending less on store locations. Analysts believe the company can continue to increase margins and lift market share, meaning this is most likely a small-cap company with a bright future.
Read More...
-
Posted
Aug 05 2009, 11:48 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 The federal stimulus package is spending money in interesting places -- like the car battery business. And that could mean opportunities for investors.
The government announced Wednesday it was giving $2.4 billion in federal grants to develop hybrid and electric cars. Of that amount, $1.5 billion is going to car battery makers. Investors should be paying attention to where the big stimulus money goes, and in this case the funding could boost some companies that aren't household names. Here's a rundown of which stocks stand to benefit from the grants:
Read More...
-
Posted
Aug 05 2009, 04:01 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
General Motors' new chairman, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., says one of his major goals is to make certain that the No. 1 U.S. car company stays No.1. GM will find it very hard to measure up.
In an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, Whitacre said being No. 1 is “the position we should strive for… (as) an American company that employs hundreds of thousands of people…We just want to be No. 1.”
If wishes were horses, all the beggars would ride. GM is losing ground to the competition at an alarming rate. In July it sold 187,582 vehicles, down 20% from the same period a year ago. Toyota (TM) sold 174,872, down 11% and Ford (F) sold 158,354, up 2%. The spread between the top three manufacturers has become remarkably small.
Read More...
-
Posted
Aug 03 2009, 03:57 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Ford (F) made two audacious decisions recently, decisions made in an industry where audacity died when Lee Iaccoca left the business. William Clay Ford, Jr., the company’s CEO since 2001, went outside the industry and brought in Boeing (BA) executive Alan Mulally to replace him in September 2006. Mulally may have been a good executive but he was not a “car man”, the kind of manager who had been running The Big Three for years.
Mulally, in turn, bet the company in order to take advantage of the opportunity to fill its treasury later in 2006 just before the auto market was swamped by one of the largest downturns in history. Ford got $23 billion in convertible notes and a revolving credit line for pledging an extraordinary amount of the firm’s assets.
All three of the major credit agencies cut their views of Ford once the capital infusion was announced. The majority of auto analysts believed that Ford had given too much for too little.
Read More...
-
Posted
Jul 31 2009, 10:00 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 One stimulus package that worked, perhaps a little too well, was the government's "cash for clunkers" program. Congress set aside $1 billion to fund the project for several months.
But now, just a week old, cash for clunkers has used up nearly all that money. Washington was shocked by the news Thursday night, and is scrambling to figure out what to do next. Here's how the program works: People who trade in their gas guzzlers for more environmentally-friendly cars get rebates worth as much as $4,500. Trade-in cars have to get 18 miles per gallon or less to qualify. (More info on the program is here). Cash for clunkers was designed to give the auto industry a boost through Nov. 1,
Read More...
-
Posted
Jul 10 2009, 07:35 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Updated at 5:09 p.m. ET
The “best” parts of General Motors were transferred Friday morning to a newly created company owned almost two-thirds by taxpayers. The federal government will end up stuffing $50 million into the new entity in the hope that a smaller and less debt-heavy GM can make money in the ravaged domestic car market.
Investors seemed to think so, and the announcement set up a bizarre day of trading in the stock that now represents GM, GMGMQ. It rose 37% during the day. Yet in the new world of GM, these shares are worthless, as Barron's explained in this report.They don't represent the new entity.
That new entity faces a difficult future
Read More...
More Posts Next page »
|
