Tokyo - Nissan Motor reported profit that beat analyst estimates as the Rogue crossover drove increased demand in the US, the Japanese automaker’s biggest market.
Net income in the quarter through December rose to 127.2 billion yen ($1.1 billion), the company said in a statement Wednesday. The carmaker topped the 120.6 billion yen average of eight analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
With Americans buying a record number of new vehicles last year, Nissan joined other automakers in riding the wave of low gasoline prices, cheap credit and an improving labor market. The company’s sales gain outpaced peers Toyota Motor and Honda Motor for the third-straight year, with Rogue deliveries surging 44 percent, the biggest jump among top models.
“It’s very clear the driving force is North America,” Seiji Sugiura, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Centre, said before Nissan released its results. “Their new cars have contributed to improvement in both profitability and sales.”
Nissan fell 1.8 percent to 985.3 yen in Tokyo before releasing earnings. The benchmark Topix index declined 3 percent.
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Shares of carmakers including Nissan have plunged this year as the yen has strengthened, climbing past 115 per dollar for the first time in more than a year on Tuesday. Investors are pouring into Japan’s currency as a haven amid concerns that global growth is fading. Nissan has declined 23 percent in 2016, compared with declines of 18 percent for Toyota and 26 percent for Honda.
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