REFILE-UPDATE 1-Nissan shares jump on smaller loss forecast
(Removes extraneous word "outperforming" from last paragraph)
* Shares jump on smaller loss forecast
* Some analysts cautious about weak product line-up
TOKYO, May 13 (Reuters) - Shares in Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), Japan's third-biggest automaker, jumped 6 percent on Wednesday after it forecast an operating loss much smaller than market estimates for this financial year.
Nissan, the maker of the Altima sedan and Murano SUV, lost a smaller-than-expected $2.4 billion in the last quarter and forecast a loss of 100 billion yen ($1 billion), less than half the consensus market forecast for a 239 billion yen loss. [ID:nT38173]
"Nissan is undertaking comprehensive fixed-cost reductions, and we think these are having a greater positive effect than we previously anticipated," Nikko Citi analyst Noriyuki Matsushima said in a note to clients.
"Brisk Chinese sales are also like to have an impact. We think targets look achievable."
Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of both Nissan and France's Renault (RENA.PA), told Reuters there were signs of improved access to credit and a gradual return in consumer confidence.
Ghosn also predicted Nissan would return to profit in the next business year if external conditions stayed the same. [ID:nT175997]
But some analysts cautioned against becoming overly optimistic, citing the automaker's lack of attractive models.
"We do not believe there has been any change in Nissan's position as a company that has lost the product appeal and growth drivers needed by an automobile manufacturer to merit an upbeat assessment," Takaki Nakanishi, auto analyst at JP Morgan wrote in a note.
"Management excels at cost-cutting, but its record suggests that it is perhaps not as good at generating sustainable growth," he said.
Nissan suffers from not having any big-hitters to match Toyota's Camry or Honda's Accord. Its Qashqai crossover has been a rare hit in Europe, but the GT-R sports car has done little to attract buyers to its mass-volume products.
Its U.S. sales are down 35 percent so far this year, mirroring a drop in the overall market, while it is among the worst performers in Japan without the 660cc minivehicles it buys from Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T) and Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T).
The automaker's shares were 5.5 percent higher at 538 yen, after rising as much as 11 percent at one stage. The Nikkei benchmark average .N225 was flat. (Reporting by Sachi Izumi and Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
