Honda Shares Up on Record April Sales - Analyst Blog

Shares of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. HMC gained 0.78% on May 29, after the automaker reported an 8.4% increase in worldwide production volume to 384,387 units in Apr 2014. This is a record high for the month.

Production outside Japan increased 2.7% to 305,578 units, which is also a record high for April. Production in Japan also rose 38.1% to 78,809 units.

The increased production outside Japan was due to a 66.4% surge in production in Europe and a 9.4% increase in production in Asia, partially offset by a 4% dip in North America and a 10.5% fall in other regions. The year-over-year improvement in Asia was mainly due to a 21.1% increase in production in China. Meanwhile, the downturn in North America was due to a 4.9% year-over-year decrease in the U.S.

Sales in the Japanese market went up 11.7% year over year to 54,172 units. New vehicle registrations surged 72.4% to 31,325 units, while Mini vehicles' sales plunged 24.7% to 22,847 units.

Fit was the best-selling vehicle in the industry among new vehicle registrations (excluding mini vehicles) in Apr 2014 with sales of 15,621 units. VEZEL was the sixth top selling vehicle with sales of 7,959 units.

Under the Mini vehicles category, N-BOX was the third best-selling vehicle with sales of 11,620 units. N-WGN was the tenth highest-selling vehicle in the industry with sales of 6,558 units.

Export from Japan decreased 75.1% year over year to 2,871 units in April. The decline was driven by weak exports to all markets.

Currently, Honda carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked automobile stocks worth considering are Fox Factory Holding Corp FOXF, Gentherm Incorporated THRM and Magna International Inc. MGA. Fox Factory and Gentherm carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Magna is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock.