HONDA MOTOR CO. LTD. ADRs $35 (New York symbol HMC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $63.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.honda.com) is spending $61 million to increase capacity at its plant in Tapukara, India, by 50%, to 180,000 cars a year. The company expects to complete these upgrades in 2016. Honda’s other Indian facility makes 120,000 cars a year.
The extra capacity will help Honda take advantage of rising car demand in the country: in the 11 months ended February 28, 2015, it sold 166,366 cars in India, up 43.5% from the same period a year earlier.
At the same time, Honda plans to produce 39% more motorcycles in India by 2016. This expansion will cost the company $94.3 million.
Honda is a buy.