Operating profit advanced to 2.89 billion euros ($4.05 billion) from 1.99 billion euros a year earlier, the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company said today. Profit beat the 2.61 billion- euro average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The shares rose the most in more than two years.
Chief Executive officer Martin Winterkorn is expanding in China and the U.S. in a bid to surpass Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s biggest carmaker. The German manufacturer has a goal of boosting deliveries 11 percent this year to a record 8 million vehicles. VW stuck to a forecast that 2011 Ebit and revenue will be “significantly higher” than last year.
“VW’s business remains very solid,” said Frank Schwope, a NordLB analyst in Hanover, Germany, who recommends buying the stock. “They’re headed for a massive profit this year. The good performance should continue through the first half of 2012.”
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