Honda Motor Co.
7267,
shares fell sharply Thursday morning after the Japanese auto maker posted disappointing second-quarter results and lowered its fiscal-year car sales forecast.
The shares were recently 5.1% lower at 3,253 yen after falling as much as 5.5% earlier. The Topix subindex for auto makers was recently 1.6% lower and the Nikkei Stock Average
NIK,
was down 0.9%.
Honda said Wednesday after market close that net profit rose 14% from a year earlier to 189.295 billion yen ($1.29 billion) for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result missed the estimate of Y205.49 billion taken from a poll of analysts by Quick.
Stronger earnings from its motorcycle business helped boost the company’s bottom line, despite weakness in its auto business amid a shortage of semiconductors.
Second-quarter revenue increased 25% to Y4.256 trillion.
Honda lowered its projection for car sales for the fiscal year ending March 2023. It expects group car sales of 4.1 million units, down from its previous projection of 4.2 million units.
However, Honda raised its fiscal-year forecasts for revenue and net profit, citing a weaker yen. It projected revenue to increase 20% to Y17.400 trillion and net profit to rise 2.5% to Y725.00 billion.
