Toyota Motor said in its earnings release that its operating profit reached a record high of 997.49 billion yen ($9.15 billion) in its fiscal first quarter ended in June, thanks to a rebound in sales after the epidemic and a better response to a global chip supply shortage than its rivals.

The results far exceeded the average estimate of 752 billion yen by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv and were up more than 70 times the 13.9 billion yen during the epidemic blockade in the same period a year earlier.

However, Toyota kept its operating profit forecast for the current fiscal year unchanged at 2.5 trillion yen, mainly considering the uncertainty brought about by the new crown epidemic, chip shortages, and rising component prices.

This forecast is lower than the average estimate of 2.88 trillion yen by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. As a result, Toyota shares fell in the afternoon on Wednesday.