Benzinga | Dec 28, 2021 01:08PM EST

Read BofA's Take On U.S. Light Vehicle Sales

* BofA analyst John Murphy sees U.S. light-vehicle sales down ~20% year-over-year in December on a selling day adjusted basis yielding a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 12.9 million vehicles.

* Murphy said that the expected weak performance reflects depressed sales due to the ongoing supply shock.

* Murphy added that if December sales are in-line with his estimate, it would mark the third month of essentially flattish performance in SAAR and bring 2021 complete year sales to a little less than 15 million units, up just 3% from the COVID-induced tough of 14.5 million units.

* Murphy's channel checks suggest that the range of sales estimate in December 2021 remains "quite wide," which he calls "not too surprising given the lacking visibility."

* Publicly traded automakers include Daimler (OTC:DDAIF), Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F), General Motors Co (NYSE:GM), Honda Motor Co Ltd (NYSE:HMC), Nissan Motor Co Ltd (OTC:NSANY), Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA), Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE:TM) and Volkswagen AG (OTC:VWAGY).

* Price Action: TSLA shares traded lower by 0.06% at $1,093.31 on the last check Tuesday.