Daimler AG, the world’s second-largest maker of luxury cars, raised its 2010 operating profit forecast to 6 billion euros ($7.8 billion) after the carmaker beat quarterly estimates on higher sales in China and the U.S.

The maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, which said July 16 it would increase its target, previously aimed for full-year earnings before interest and taxes of more than 4 billion euros.
The carmaker, based in Stuttgart, Germany, reported an operating loss in 2009 of 1.51 billion euros.
Daimler and German luxury rivals Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Audi AG are benefitting from a jump in demand in China and a recovering market in the U.S. Daimler, also the world’s largest maker of heavy trucks, has continually raised targets in 2010 as the global economic recovery spurs demand.
The “guidance is surprisingly strong -- 6 billion euros is clearly at the upper end of the expected range,” said Marc-Rene Tonn, an analyst at M.M. Warburg in Hamburg who recommends buying the shares. “In the face of the fact that sales usually slow down in the second half they seem to be very confident.”
Before today’s announcement, Daimler had jumped 19 percent since April 19, the day the company began raising forecasts. The shares fell as much as 1.21 euros, or 2.8 percent, to 41.95 euros and traded at 42.34 euros as of 12:26 P.M. in Frankfurt.
Second-quarter net income attributable to shareholders was 1.25 billion euros compared with a loss of 1.02 billion euros a year earlier, the company said on its Website today.
The carmaker was expected to post profit of 1.03 billion euros, according to the average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Daimler said July 16 second-quarter Ebit reached 2.1 billion euros, while sales jumped 28 percent to 25.1 billion euros. Daimler first lifted forecasts in April, raising targets for the Mercedes-Benz division twice within two months, as the global economic recovery feeds demand.
The carmaker is trying to regain the top position it relinquished to BMW in 2005 and hold off advances by Volkswagen AG’s Audi. “Daimler came out of the crisis faster than just about any other competitor, and their margins are already on an absolute top-level, comparable with the boom years before the crisis,” said Tim Schuldt, an analyst with Equinet AG in Frankfurt with a “buy” recommendation on the shares.
BMW two weeks ago raised its 2010 forecast, predicting sales will rise about 10 percent to more than 1.4 million cars and sport-utility vehicles, while the operating margin at the automotive unit will exceed 5 percent.
BMW increased first-half group deliveries 13 percent while Mercedes-Benz posted a 12 percent gain. Six-month deliveries at Ingolstadt, Germany-based Audi, which aims to dethrone BMW by 2015, advanced 19 percent.
Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi are adding workers and cutting summer factory breaks to boost production as demand for luxury cars returns quicker than they had planned.
Daimler has hired 1,800 temporary workers and added Saturday shifts at German assembly plants making the SLS gull-wing sports car, GLK sport-utility vehicle and E-Class convertible. Audi is running extra shifts, while BMW has added 5,000 temporary workers.
(Source: Bloomberg)