Nissan, the best of Japan's strong car companies

This makes any one of the Japanese automakers an attractive investment opportunity, but I believe Nissan offers the most value and potential right now. After struggling throughout the 90s, Nissan has completed a remarkable turnaround under the leadership of Carlos Ghosn, who was made president after the French manufacturer Renault bought a controlling share in the company, and continues to build momentum. One of the company’s major strengths is as one of the world’s leading manufacturer of automobile engines, appearing on "Ward’s 10 Best Engines" list for all 12 years since the award’s inception. Nissan models are also consistently ranked above average and recommend by Consumer Reports, one of the nation’s most trusted sources on automobiles. Nissan’s luxury line, sold under the Infiniti brand name, was especially impressive, earning top honors in the luxury sedan category with its M35 model. Nissan models offer all the reliability and efficiency that consumers have come to expect from Japanese automakers, with more distinctive style and performance than its cookie-cutter peers offer. In addition to its attractive product, its stock price offers more as well. It’s recent decrease in price has left it only a couple points off it’s 52 week low, presenting a great value buying opportunity. It’s price to earning (P/E) ratio of 9.87 beats Toyota and Honda, at 13.91 and 11.33, respectively. It also offers a greater dividend yield of 2.4%, verses only 1.17% and 1.02% for Toyota and Honda. While the American automakers of Ford and GM offer competitive dividends at 3.71% and 6.13%, their P/E ratios are nonexistent since their earnings per share (EPS) are negative. Common business sense tells us that paying out lots of cash per share while not taking in the earnings to cover it is a recipe for disaster. That being said, I believe Nissan will continue to outperform its American counterparts and is in position to overtake its Japanese competitors, leading to future company and stockholder success.