Toyota Returns to Profit, Raises Outlook

TOKYO (TheStreet) -- Toyota (TM Quote) posted a surprise fiscal second-quarter profit and cut its annual loss forecast on an increase in sales.

Toyota, the world's largest automaker by sales, said it had an operating profit of 58 billion yen for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down sharply from the year-ago quarter but still ahead of an average estimate of a loss of 63 billion yen, according to Reuters.

Toyota said net profit fell 84% to 21.84 billion yen, but still surprised analysts. The profit came largely due to cost cutting, as revenue dropped 24% from a year ago to 4.54 trillion yen.

Looking ahead, Toyota said it expects a net loss for the fiscal year of 200 billion yen rather than a loss of 450 billion yen. That would mark an improvement from the annual net loss of 437 billion yen the automaker reported in March.

The new projection comes as Toyota said it expects to sell 7.03 million vehicles in the fiscal year, up from its earlier forecast of 6.6 million.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in New York.

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