DETROIT — Toyota Motor’s plans to halt sales of eight popular models sent Toyota stock tumbling Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, while Ford Motor’s stock saw a slight boost.
Meanwhile, the stock prices of four publicly traded automotive groups also dropped.
Toyota’s stock on Wednesday lost $7.01, or 8.1 percent, to close at $79.77 a share. Ford stock gained 36 cents, or 3.2 percent, to close at $11.55.
John Murphy, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
auto analyst, wrote Wednesday in a report that other brands are likely
to pick up the short-term slack — including brands introducing a new
competitive product, such as Ford and Hyundai.
Standard & Poor’s equity auto analyst also noted
in a report that any tarnishing of the Toyota brand could likely
benefit competitors, such as Ford.
S&P equity research maintained its buy opinion on the American Depository Shares of Toyota Motor trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Though we remain optimistic regarding growth prospects and market share gains for Toyota Motor, we are concerned with the near-term impact from this action,” the Standard & Poor’s report said.
“Specifically, the duration of the production shutdown is unknown which could impact near-term profits.”
Meanwhile, Toyota has issued several urgent communications to dealers in the wake of the recall furor:
—A Q&A about the accelerator problem;
—A safety recall fact sheet;
—A notice to stop delivery in affected vehicles.
By the time stock markets closed Wednesday, shares of Penske Automotive Group dropped 74 cents to $14.09, AutoNation declined 21 cents to $18.34, Sonic Automotive Inc. dropped 17 cents to $9.72, and Asbury Automotive Group fell 16 cents to $11.78.
AutoNation operates 207 automotive franchises in the United States, including 25 Toyota locations.
“They are being very proactive, and you have to applaud them for making sure customer safety comes first,” said Marc Cannon, spokesman for AutoNation, the largest U.S. retailer of new cars.
Cannon pointed out that a portion of the models named in the recall, including Camry and Corolla, are manufactured in Japan or on manufacturing lines with parts that are unaffected by Toyota’s recent recalls or Toyota’s decision to stop selling new vehicles.
“There are going to be vehicles that are still going to be available for sale,” Cannon said.
Toyota will soon provide lists to dealers of cars that can and cannot still be sold, Cannon said.
Cannon said he had no idea how large of a percentage of AutoNation’s inventory will be eligible for sale.
“We, like everybody else, are going through it and seeing what is going to be available,” he said.
Penske Automotive operates 304 dealerships worldwide, including 52 Toyota, Lexus or Scion dealerships, with 39 of those in the U.S.
Spokesmen for Bloomfield Hills-based Penske Automotive Group and Sonic did not immediately return calls Wednesday, and a spokeswoman for Asbury declined to comment.
Ford’s stock price increased by 10 cents per share Wednesday after several analysts said the company is well-positioned to benefit from quality issues faced by Toyota in the U.S.
Ford’s shares closed at $11.55, up from its close of $11.19 on Tuesday.
Aaron Bragman, automotive analyst for IHS Global
Insight, noted that Ford gained a full point of market share in the
U.S. in 2009 and said Ford, along with Hyundai, is among the manufacturers that could benefit from Toyota’s problems.
“For Toyota,
basically, there is a real risk of losing potential market share,
because you have competitors now that are more competitive than they
have been in decades,” Bragman said.
Ford also is scheduled to report year-end and fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday. Analysts estimate Ford will earn between 15 and 34 cents per share for the fourth quarter, according to 13 estimates tracked by Thomson One Analytics.
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