Cars and Drivers

Despite Strong August Sales, Top Auto Companies on the Decline

Markets were sliding into the close on Friday, and they were dragged down in part to major auto companies. This was unexpected as most of these companies posted solid August sales for their vehicles. 24/7 Wall St. has picked out a few of the major companies to highlight on Friday.

In August, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) delivered its best August U.S. sales in nine years on strong demand for new cars, SUVs and trucks. Sales totaled 234,237 vehicles, a 5% increase.

Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, commented on the sales:

Customer demand for our newest vehicles made August a strong month for Ford. Improved availability helped make August the strongest sales month this year for F-Series. We also had our best month of Ford SUV sales in 12 years.

The Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) sold 270,480 vehicles in the United States in August 2015. Retail deliveries climbed 6% compared with a year ago, when results included the Labor Day holiday. GM had the industry’s largest retail sales increase and gained more than 1 percentage point of retail market share year over year, based on J.D. Power PIN estimates. Fleet sales were down 24% on a 38% decline in rental deliveries. Total sales were in line with a year ago.

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As for Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM), the company reported August 2015 sales of 224,381 units, a decrease of 8.8% from August 2014 on a volume basis. With one less selling day in August 2015 than in August 2014, sales were down 5.3% on a daily selling rate (DSR) basis. The Toyota division posted August 2015 sales of 190,894 units, down 10.5% on a volume and 7.1% on a DSR basis.

Bill Fay, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager, said:

Consumer confidence is at its highest level since January, despite predicted slower August industry sales. For the Toyota Division, Tacoma and Highlander had their best sales month since 2003. In September, we are excited for the launch of the all-new Scion iM, iA and the 2016 Tacoma.

Despite these sales, each of these stocks dragged down the market in Friday’s session.

Shares of Toyota were down 2.8% to $116.25 on Friday. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $149.97 and a 52-week trading range of $108.40 to $145.80.

Shares of GM were down 1% to $28.81. The consensus analyst price target is $39.87, and the 52-week trading range is $24.62 to $38.99.

Shares of Ford were down 3.1% to $13.41 on Friday. The consensus price target is $17.41 and the 52-week range is $10.44 to $17.63.

ALSO READ: 5 Analyst Stocks With Massive Upside Calls This Week

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