Cooper Tire & Rubber Projects Strong Q4

(RTTNews) - Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (CTB) Monday said it expects a strong fourth quarter on lower raw material costs sequentially. The company expects higher profitability in its International segment, however projects an operating loss for the full year.

Cooper Tire continues to expect operating margin for the full year to be above the high end of its mid-term target of 8 to 10 percent, however, below its year over year result due to higher costs.

Cooper Chairman, chief executive officer and president Roy Armes said, "Cooper will exceed industry unit volume growth in the U.S. Our new products and improving mix of sales to higher value, higher margin tires position us well in an extremely competitive market... Cooper remains committed to making the appropriate investments to support our strategic growth plans, particularly in the growing markets of Asia and Latin America."

For the third-quarter, the company posted an increase in net income attributable to the company of $53.176 million, compared to $47.699 million last year. On a per share basis, earnings climbed to $0.94 from $0.79 last year.

On average, 8 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.80 per share. Analysts estimates usually exclude special items.

Net sales declined to $782.368 million from $920.082 million a year ago. Wall Street expected $760.33 million.