Toyota Stock Hits Fresh High on Earnings Beat, $1.3B Investment in EV and Hybrid Plant

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) shares surged to a record high Tuesday after the Japanese automaker reported stronger-than-expected results and announced a $1.3 billion investment in a Kentucky plant to make all-electric and hybrid vehicles.

Toyota reported a net profit of 3.95 trillion yen ($26.7 billion) in its fiscal third quarter, up from 1.9 trillion yen ($12.8 billion) the year before and above forecasts. The strong performance led the world’s best-selling automaker to lift its full-year guidance on operating profit to 4.9 billion yen (about $33 million) from 4.5 billion yen (about $30.4 million), a nearly 9% increase.

Toyota also delivered 9% more vehicles in its fiscal third quarter from the year-ago period. Toyota noted strong year-over-year growth in the Japanese, North American, and European market segments. International markets were especially beneficial to Toyota’s bottom line due to a weaker yen.

Meanwhile, total electric vehicle (EV) sales surged 41%. That growth made EVs a bigger part of Toyota’s sales, accounting for nearly 36% of sales, up from about 28% of sales the previous year.

That’s good news for Toyota, which issued a safety recall of more than 1 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles in December over a faulty sensor that could prevent airbag deployment. Despite the scale of the recall, the news did little to shake Toyota stock in the wake of the company’s record-setting global sales in the six months from April to September 2023.

Shares of Toyota finished 7.8% higher Tuesday at $218.86 per share. They’ve gained more than 51% over the past year.