| Previous Close | 150.59 |
| Open | 152.09 |
| Bid | 152.93 x 800 |
| Ask | 0.00 x 900 |
| Day's Range | 151.11 - 152.29 |
| 52 Week Range | 115.19 - 163.37 |
| Volume | 250,416 |
| Avg. Volume | 355,883 |
| Market Cap | 209.411B |
| Beta (5Y Monthly) | 0.72 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 15.21 |
| EPS (TTM) | 9.96 |
| Earnings Date | N/A |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 4.24 (2.82%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | Sep. 29, 2020 |
| 1y Target Est | 178.76 |
- Bloomberg
Chip Shortage Forces Carmakers to Leave Out Some High-End Features
(Bloomberg) -- When automakers were first hit with chip shortages at the end of last year, they tried idling factories until the troubles blew over. But with the crisis stretching into its fifth month and getting worse, they’re getting creative to keep at least some production moving forward.Nissan is leaving navigation systems out of thousands of vehicles that typically would have them because of the shortages. Ram no longer offers its 1500 pickups with a standard “intelligent” rearview mirror that monitors for blind spots. Renault has stopped offering an oversized digital screen behind the steering wheel on its Arkana SUV -- also to save on chips.The crisis is an historic test for the century-old auto industry just as it is trying to accelerate a shift toward smarter, electric vehicles. For decades, carmakers moved steadily to include more and better advanced features; now, they’re stripping some of them out -- at least temporarily -- to salvage their sales.That rollback underscores the depth of the issues facing the industry. Just last week, BMW AG, Honda Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co. all flagged worsening problems from chip shortages. A failure to secure critical supplies is a massive short-term setback -- millions of vehicle sales will be lost this year -- and bodes ill for the future as competition from tech-savvy internet and consumer-electronics companies intensifies.“This probably gets worse before it gets better,” said Stacy Rasgon, who covers the semiconductor industry for Sanford C. Bernstein. “It just takes a long time to bring this capacity online.”NXP Semiconductor NV Chief Executive Officer Kurt Sievers said the shift to electric vehicles is happening faster than anticipated, which has added to the increased demand for automotive chips. NXP plans to ship at least 20% more auto chips by revenue in the first half of 2021 compared with the first half of 2019, even though car production has dropped about 10% over the period, he said.Mark Liu, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., cautioned the crisis is far from over. His company, which is the world’s most advanced chipmaker and will be critical to any resolution, will begin to meet auto clients’ minimum requirements by June, but expects the car-chip shortages could last until early 2022, he said in an interview with CBS.Automakers can’t just wait. One reaction to the shortage is to allocate the scarce components to more profitable and better-selling vehicles at the expense of other models -- something manufacturers like France’s Renault SA and Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. are doing.Carmakers are also building vehicles with less technology. Peugeot is going back to old-fashioned analog speedometers for its 308 hatchbacks, rather than use digital versions that need hard-to-find chips. General Motors Co. said it built some Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks without a certain fuel-economy module, costing drivers about 1 mile per gallon. Nissan is cutting the number of vehicles with pre-installed navigation systems by about a third, according to a person familiar with the matter.Why Can’t We Just Make More Chips?The Japanese manufacturer, which in early January became one of the first automakers to warn of an impending shortage, is also prioritizing chip supply to the two best-selling models in each major market, the person said. In one instance, Nissan flew chip supplies from India to the U.S. on a chartered cargo flight to help production move forward there. A representative for Nissan declined to comment.Buyers of Renault’s sporty Arkana now have to settle for a smaller display without a navigation map, and forgo an option for a phone charger by induction.Stellantis NV -- formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group -- has modified the Ram 1500 pickup so that the digital rearview mirror that usually comes standard is now available only as an upgrade option, according to a person familiar with the matter. The manufacturer is also using parts that don’t require chips from its more basic Ram Classic truck to keep the pricier version moving down the assembly line.“Given the fluid nature of this complex issue, Stellantis employees across the enterprise are finding creative solutions every day to minimize the impact to our vehicles so we can build the most in-demand products as possible,” spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said in an email.The car industry’s predicament dates back to poor planning during the pandemic and limited chipmaking capacity, but it’s been compounded by shrinking available cargo space as the global economy recovers from Covid-19. When automakers can secure orders, their chips often can’t ship.That bottleneck is compounded by the fact that major car-chip makers NXP, Infineon Technologies AG and Renesas Electronics Corp. account for just 40% of supply, with the remaining 60% split between tens of thousands of smaller designers. Those smaller players often lack the influence to get their chips manufactured at foundries when capacity is tight.In at least one case, carmakers are asking a major chipmaker to send microcontrollers that don’t meet standard specifications, a person familiar with the matter said. Those sub-standard chips wouldn’t jeopardize safety essentials, like brakes, the person said, but they could mean in-car entertainment or emissions monitoring systems are more likely to malfunction in extreme weather.Automakers and suppliers can accept whatever chips are available and rewrite the software to give them a new task, said Sig Huber, a consultant at Conway MacKenzie and a former head of purchasing at Fiat Chrysler. Tesla Inc. said last week it alleviated issues by reaching out to new semiconductor suppliers and then quickly writing new firmware for those chips.Stellantis is working on more standardization across its vehicle lineup rather than having to use specific chips for some models, Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer said on an call with reporters this week.“More standardization and flexibility, which is key when we have supply constraints,” he said. “We’re managing scarcity.”Manufacturers are also stocking incomplete cars, or “building shy” in industry parlance, to keep production lines humming. In Hamtramck, greater Detroit, an area stretching several blocks is filled with Ford F-150 pickup trucks sans some chips. General Motors said it is also storing unfinished vehicles while awaiting semiconductors.Meanwhile, behind the scenes, car suppliers are going to unusual lengths to try to secure chips. A Stellantis partner called JVIS-USA LLC tried to sue NXP in a Michigan court in April in a Hail Mary attempt to get more chips, but a judge rejected its request. Automotive supplier Visteon Corp. flagged that carmakers may seek compensation because of the shortages. In Japan, Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda visited a Renesas plant that had suffered a fire to hasten its return to production.Yet no relief is in sight, with even Apple Inc., whose high-specification iPhones and aggressive demands typically place it at the front of the chip-customer line, saying last week it’s starting to feel the pinch. That may leave carmakers wanting even when chip manufacturers eventually manage to increase capacity.“This has the potential to be a longer-term issue,” said Anna-Marie Baisden, an automotive analyst at Fitch Solutions. “This will only be exacerbated as vehicles become technologically advanced and use more chips.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Lyft Loss Narrower Than Estimates as Riders Start to Return
(Bloomberg) -- Lyft Inc., reporting quarterly results, said ride demand is rebounding as more people get vaccinated, and the company still expects to earn an adjusted profit by fall.The San Francisco-based ride-hailing company reported adjusted losses before tax, depreciation and other expenses of $73 million in the first quarter, narrower than the same period last year and beating analyst estimates, on average, of $143 million.Lyft shares gained about 5% in extended trading Tuesday after closing at $56.19 in New York. The stock has jumped 14% this year.Revenue declined 36% to $609 million from a year earlier -- before Lyft felt the brunt of the pandemic -- but was up 7% from the previous quarter, the company said Tuesday in a statement. Analysts projected $557 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.“We had an extremely strong quarter,” Lyft Co-founder and President John Zimmer told Bloomberg. “We’re going to emerge on the other side of this pandemic stronger, leaner and more profitable than we were going in.” Zimmer also reiterated that the company was on track to become profitable by the third quarter.On a call with investors Tuesday, Lyft executives said airport rides were up 65% in April compared with January numbers, influenced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxing travel warnings for vaccinated people.The executives also said the company will have to spend more to recruit new drivers during the current three-month period, but that supply and demand should even out by the third quarter -- thanks to increased vaccination rates, decreased demand for delivery services and the expiration of unemployment benefits for drivers who stayed home during the pandemic.Reduced travel demand during the pandemic hit Lyft especially hard. Unlike its larger rival, Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft doesn’t operate a food delivery service or offer rides outside of North America. As the virus spread and ridership cratered last year, Lyft began laying off employees and cutting costs, stripping out $360 million of annualized expenses in 2020.Lyft said last month it would cut another $100 million of annual operating expenses with the sale of its self-driving division to a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp. The sale of the unit allowed the company to push up the time line for turning a profit to the third quarter, instead of the end of the year.The company said Tuesday it had 13.5 million active riders, compared with 12.7 million expected by Wall Street. Revenue per active rider was to $45.13, compared with $43.88 expected by analysts.Despite the pandemic receding, some worries remain for the company. The Biden administration is considering David Weil, the former administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor under the Obama administration, for the same job in the new administration, according to reports late last month. Weil has a history of criticizing gig economy companies like Uber and Lyft for not classifying their workers as employees, and his appointment could mean regulatory hurdles for the companies.“It really ups the ante in terms of risks to their model,” said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Co., which owns shares of Lyft and Uber. “It’s really a dark cloud looming over both these companies.”(Adds Lyft executive comments starting in the sixth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
Toyota Motor Corporation (TM) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know
Toyota Motor Corporation (TM) closed the most recent trading day at $150.59, moving -1.08% from the previous trading session.
