Los Angeles - Toyota, roaring back after three years of recession, recalls and natural disasters, will struggle to regain its former dominance as it grapples with improved competition worldwide.

Under Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda, the company's profits are rising, it's on pace to regain the global sales lead this year, and its $140 billion stock-market value is more than the next two biggest, Volkswagen Honda, combined. Still its shares aren't as highly valued as they were before the crises and the resurgence of once-feeble U.S. rivals.

Investors are less enthusiastic about owning Toyota, relative to its size and peers, than they were from 2003 to 2007. The price-to-sales ratio, which shows the value investors place on each dollar of revenue, reflect concerns about the Japanese automaker's ability to increase profits now that its quality lead is less pronounced against U.S. and Korean peers such as Hyundai Motor Co.

"Hyundai is now a tough rival to tackle in that they're better recognized by the world now," Takashi Aoki, a Tokyo- based fund manager at Mizuho Asset Management Co., said in a phone interview. "The market sees Hyundai as being a competitive company against Toyota."

U.S. automakers are also gaining ground on Toyota. General Motors, restructured in a 2009 bankruptcy, this year earned its best scores in J.D. Power & Associates annual study of new- car quality, the bellwether analysis that helped establish Toyota and Honda's reputations in the United States for reliability. Two years ago Ford ranked fifth; this year Chrysler Group improved more than most.

Toyota executives seared by the recall of millions of vehicles two years ago on reports of unintended acceleration have made at least one willing tradeoff that suppresses its value relative to peers. To keep tighter control on quality, Toyota is keeping more manufacturing in Japan even as a strengthened yen reduces profit on sales made in North America.

"Toyota's yen-based manufacturing is obviously the biggest concern weighing on Toyota's shares," Aoki said.

Investors are willing to pay more than twice as much for shares of Seoul-based Hyundai compared with Toyota's based on price-to-sales ratios, and 12 percent more relative to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Quality ratings show Toyota again ranking at or near the top among mass-market brands after its stumble two years ago, based on assessments by J.D. Power & Associates and Consumer Reports magazine.