Nissan Motors Company Analysis

            
            
             , I would recommend that an investor buy this stock. I found Nissan to be a good value based on the company's intrinsic value and other valuation ratios. Nissan seems to be in better financial shape than the automotive industry on a whole. .
             Through the last twelve months Nissan has had a P/E ratio of 9.9. This shows that the company is trading at 9.9 times earnings per share, which are 1.39 (for the most previous quarter). The automotive industry's P/E is 10.7. Nissan is slightly undervalued compared to the rest of the industry. The S&P 500 index's P/E ratio came in at 21.2 for the most recent quarter. I believe this clearly shows that Nissan is undervalued compared to one of the most prominent indexes in the market. Nissan is also showing higher profitability than the industry average. The firm's ROA is 5.2% for fiscal year end. This number is slightly above the industry average of 3.4%, and the S&P 500 average of 4.7%. Nissan is making a higher profit per dollar of their assets than both the industry and the S&P 500. According to these two ratios, Nissan is outperforming both the automobile industry and the S&P 500.
             Nissan made great progress this past year in terms of their debt and expenses. Two years ago Nissan had long-term debt of $15.62 billion. This number has been reduced $12.1 billion as reported in year-end financial statements. Nissan has also cut short-term debt from $12.42 billion (two years ago) to $10.71 billion. Nissan is showing that they are extremely confident in their growth prospects in North America. The company is building a new $930 million manufacturing plant in Canton, Mississippi. The plant is scheduled to begin production this summer. Nissan has also begun a $1 billion investment over the next 3 years, which will triple engine production at its Decherd, Tennessee plant. These large investments show that Nissan is confident that unit sales will continue to grow.