Hikes fullyear profit forecast by about 9 to 4.9 trillion yen
Toyota39;s Q3 operating profit surges almost 76
Shares jump 4.4 after the announcement

TOKYO, Feb 6 Reuters Japan39;s Toyota Motor raised its fullyear operating profit forecast by nearly 9 on Tuesday, after its thirdquarter earnings raced past analysts39; estimates thanks to a weaker yen and strong sales of highmargin cars and hybrid vehicles.

Toyota shares surged 4.4 after the announcement, recovering from a 0.7 fall earlier.

The higher forecast from the world39;s bestselling automaker contrasts with a downbeat outlook from many of its rivals who have warned of tepid sales growth and announced production cuts this year due to high interest rates and slowing demand for electric vehicles EVs.

Toyota, a laggard in batterypowered EVs, is seen outperforming competitors this year, helped by robust demand for hybrid vehicles, which it pioneered more than a quarter century ago with the Prius model.

The Japanese firm raised its profit forecast for the current year to 4.9 trillion yen 33 billion from 4.5 trillion expected previously. That is well above an average analyst forecast of 4.6 trillion yen, according to LSEG data.

Toyota39;s operating profit for the three months to Dec. 31 totalled 1.68 trillion yen, up 75.7 a year earlier and beating the average 1.3 trillion yen profit estimate in a poll of nine analysts by LSEG.

Hybrids accounted for around one third of the total sales of more than 10 million…