Toyota Motor Corp.’s share price down, posts record Q1 profit on rising SUV sales in the U.S.

The worlds largest auto manufacturer – Toyota Motor Corp. made an official statement yesterday, reporting that its profit jumped to a record over the last financial quarter. The upbeat results were tied to the rising SUV in the U.S., which managed to neutralize the negative impact of the decreasing demand in Japan.

According to the statement of Toyota Motor Corp., the net income of the company over the period from April to June reached a record 587.8 billion yen (5.7 billion dollars), trumping the median analysts forecast of 497.3 billion yen. The auto manufacturer also kept its projection for a profit of 1.78 trillion yen for the fiscal year ending in March 2015.

The operating profit generated in North America increased by 45% and reached 149.7 billion yen. The global revenue of the company increased by 2.2% to 6.39 trillion yen.

“The first-quarter results were much stronger than we expected, with the profit rise in the U.S. offsetting the slow growth in emerging markets and Japan,” said Koji Endo, an auto analyst at Advanced Research Japan, cited by Bloomberg. “I expect Toyota to keep this pace for the fiscal year and maybe even revise its forecasts mid-year.”

Toyota Motor Corp. shared that its sales were relatively weak in Japan, Brazil, India, Thailand and Indonesia. However, the stable gains generated by the sales on the territory of Europe and North America managed to eclipse this impact and pushed the companys profit to a record.

Mr. Koki Konishi, who is currently occupying the position of Managing Officer said in an earnings briefing that was cited by Reuters: “Conditions in Thailand, India, Brazil and other emerging markets are weak.” He also added: “But were trying our best to get an additional 50,000 vehicles out of Japan to offset some of that, and to reach around 2.3 million in the U.S.”

The performance of the auto maker in Thailand has been hurt by the political instability in the region. The company shared that its sales in India are expected to be flat over the current fiscal year.

Toyota Motor Corp. was 0.88% down to close at 5,989 yen per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of -6.13%. According to the information published on the Financial Times, the 24 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Toyota Motor Corp. have a median target of 7,275 yen, with a high estimate of 8,300 yen and a low estimate of 6,400 yen. The median estimate represents a 20.43% increase from the last price of 6,041 yen.