Nissan Motor Corp. (NASDAQ: NSANY), Japan's third-largest automaker, announced this morning higher fourth quarter profit, but forecast a decline in profit for the current year, blaming an unfavorable rising yen and soaring material costs.

Nissan Motor announced that its profit during the quarter jumped 67% to 137.6 billion yen ($1.3 billion). And its income figures were definitely something to cheer about. During its fourth quarter last year, the company had a profit of 82.2 billion yen. Excluding one-time "fifth-quarter" numbers, the company's earnings figures would have showed a surge of 95%.

Despite the positive results, the automaker isn't optimistic about its future earnings and issued a gloomy outlook. The company expects net income for the current year to drop 30% to 340 billion yen ($3.3 billion), which is below the 368 billion yen that analysts at Factset Research predicted. Nissan cited unfavorable currency exchange, higher commodity and energy prices, and increased material expenses.

Despite a troubled U.S. economy, a stronger yen and increased credit costs in the US., it looks like Japanese automakers are still benefiting from a booming car demand. After Honda Motor Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) announced early this week its profit rose 38.1% in the third-quarter, now it is Nissan Motor Co. (NASDAQ: NSANY)'s turn to prove its efficiency.

Japan's second-biggest automaker reported this morning its third-quarter profit rose 26.6% to 132.22 billion yen ($1.24 billion), helped by higher sales in Asia. The company had posted a profit of 104.46 billion yen during the same period of last year. The company's results also show a respectable 18.2% jump in revenue to 2.770 trillion yen ($26.03 billion), following strong sales of the Rogue crossover vehicle in the U.S.

Although Nissan's earnings numbers matched analysts' predictions, the company is still showing some concerns over its further gains. The automaker stated that its bottom line could be affected by lower American consumer spending. A weaker dollar also could dampen Nissan's earnings by reducing the value of its foreign revenue.

Edmunds.com, the car research site, looks at industry trends each month and predicts how major car companies have done in US sales. The Edmunds data comes out the day before the car companies announce their sales data.

This March, Ford Motor's (NYSE:F) is expected to be the big loser, with sales down about 17% over the same month last year. At this rate, it would be impressive if Ford can stay in business much beyond 2007. With fuel prices up again, the company's important sales leaders like the F-150 pick-up are likely to do poorly.

DaimlerChrysler (NYSE:DCX) is expected to have another tough month at its Chrysler unit. Sales are expected to be off about 6%. That is not bad compared to Ford, but with parent Daimler trying to sell the US car unit, any drop in units tends to make the company less attractive to a potential buyer.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is expected to see sales drop only 1%. Its Saturn line of cars has been doing extremely well, and it now has more fuel-efficient crossover vehicles in its product line-up. If GM can hold its own while lowering costs, it may even show a modest profit in North America for 2007.

No one should be surprised that Toyota Motor's (NYSE:TM) sales are expected to rise in March. It is projected to have an increase of almost 9% due to the Camry and Prius, both of which get good gas mileage. Honda Motor (NYSE:HMC) sales are expected to rise 3% while Nissan Motor (NASDAQ:NSANY) is forecasted to increase 1.1%.

Of course, all of this means that Detroit's share of the US market will be down again. Soon, the Big 3 may only have a 50% share in North America.

With no turnaround in sight.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.