TM posts
FeedPosted Nov 7th 2009 9:40AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Cisco Systems (CSCO), Starbucks (SBUX), Ford Motor (F), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Activision Inc (ATVI), Polo Ralph Lauren'A' (RL)
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Cisco, Ford, Humana, MasterCard, Starbucks, Toyota ...
Posted Sep 18th 2009 4:45PM by Brian White (RSS feed)
Filed under: Competitive strategy, Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)
Although Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) has created specific marketing companies to help it stir up more consumer interest in vehicle purchases in the U.S., the world's largest automobile company now wants to spend as much as $1 billion in the fourth quarter of this year to bump up sales as much as possible.
Not only that, but the auto company is adding two more hybrid Prius models and is enhancing the margins its dealers receive. Will all of this add up to a large rise in Q4 sales for the automaker? As signs continue to sprout up that the economic recession is nearing an end, customers may start flocking to non-U.S. cars in Q4 now that the "Cash for Clunkers" parade has ended gas efficiency continues to top of the lists of customers shopping for a new car this fall and winter.
Continue reading Toyota to spend $1 billion to reverse sales slide in Q4
Posted Aug 27th 2009 10:30AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)
Yesterday, Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) announced that it will launch a voluntary safety recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that will impact roughly 96,000 Toyota and Scion vehicles sold in the U.S. thanks to possible brake problems.
The problem occurs in extremely cold temperatures in the 2009 and 2010 Toyota Corolla and Corolla Matrix, along with the 2008 and 2009 Scion xD vehicles, all of which come equipped with 1.8 liter engines. Toyota will notify vehicle owners from 19 affected states in early September 2009. Toyota dealers will install a newly designed intake air connector to correct the problem.
Continue reading Toyota recalls vehicles because of brake problems
Posted Aug 8th 2009 3:40PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, CBS Corp 'B' (CBS), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), Clorox Co (CLX), Duke Energy (DUK), Activision Inc (ATVI), Tyson Foods'A' (TSN), Blackstone Group L.P (BX)
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Blackstone, CBS, Humana, Playboy, Sirius, Whole Foods ...
Posted Aug 4th 2009 1:00PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Competitive strategy, Starbucks (SBUX)
A report today in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) says that Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) is delving into the "lean" manufacturing techniques employed by the likes of Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM). Scott Heydon has been named the coffee company's new "vice president of lean thinking," and he's visiting Starbucks joints around the country to help eliminate wasteful movements by the chain's baristas.
Yes, that's right. Under Heydon's aegis, baristas are encouraged to economize their motions to maximize how quickly they can whip up one of the chain's signature drinks. "Motion and work are two different things," he explained to the Journal. "Thirty percent of the partners' time is motion; the walking, reaching, bending." If the process can be streamlined to include less motion, therefore, Starbucks could theoretically churn out more coffee confections in less time, and possibly with fewer workers.
Continue reading Investors cheer the newer, 'leaner' Starbucks
Posted Jul 16th 2009 2:30PM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)

I found an interesting
slideshow over on
U.S. News & World Report that takes a look at the cars that have been hurt the most by the recession. I was not surprised to see the likes of Chrysler, Dodge, Saturn, and Chevrolet on the list -- these brands have a good deal of problems. However, I was very surprised to see
Toyota (
TM) included in the list. This is Toyota folks, the car company that all car companies should emulate - right? Wrong. It appears that the car giant didn't expect the Toyota Tundra pickup to drag on sales as much as it has, which has dragged sales down. If there is one thing that American automakers know how to do, it is to build big, gas-sucking, diesel-belching, trucks. So don't tread in our realm, Toyota!
Continue reading Toyota finds itself on the list of cars most hurt by the recession
Posted Jul 10th 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Market matters, Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says it's 20 years too late, but at least GM won't take down the auto industry anymore. This new GM, this small GM, the one that doesn't care about share but cares about sales and quality and maintenance, may actually be what we needed about 20 years ago.
We have been worried about
General Motors (OTC:
GMGMQ) (
Cramer's Take) for the last 20 years -- too big, too bloated, worrisome obligations. We still have the last one -- there's a lot of obligation still, much of it borne by us not by "them" -- but the one thing this reorganization will take off the table forever is, "How bad will the inevitable collapse of GM be for the country?" I say that because the one thing that we know after it emerges from bankruptcy Friday is that GM, at last, NO LONGER MATTERS.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: The world's been waiting for the new GM
Posted Jul 8th 2009 1:10PM by Beth Gaston Moon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Chevron Corp (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Oil
Who said big oil was a dying business? Fortune has released its Global 500, their "annual ranking of the world's largest corporations," and topping the charts is Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), which, much like a Mariah Carey song, bumped up into the coveted number-one slot after some time at number three. The Netherlands-based oil company trumped its U.S. rival, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) by $15 billion in sales and saw its revenue spike nearly 29% from 2007.
Speaking of Exxon, the company once again had a tiger in its tank, ranking number two in the world as oil futures bounced around in a nearly $100-dollar range, hitting $146 per barrel at its heights.
Continue reading Royal Dutch Shell crowned world's largest corporation
Posted Jul 6th 2009 9:30AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Ford Motor (F), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Nokia Corp. (NOK), Alcoa Inc (AA), AMR Corp (AMR), S and P 500, Delta Air Lines (DAL)
Quarterly earnings could be up year-over-year by the fourth quarter. A low threshold for improvement, as a result of last year's Q3 financial meltdown, could set the stage for the appearance of a recovery, but the ride from here to there will be a difficult one.
Data from Bloomberg and S&P suggests that profits for stocks comprising the S&P 500 Index may be down 21% next quarter. It's still a double-digit blow, but a better result than Q2's estimated 34% -- and far ahead of Q1's 60% year-over-year fall in profits. The driver of a recovery, however concealed by low expectations, is likely to be a combination of unemployment and consumer spending. Last month, we saw unemployment reach a 26-year high, putting obvious constraints on purchasing.
Continue reading Q2 to be tough on earnings, but some improvement
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