By Steven Riley
Commercial-truck maker Navistar International Corp. today reported a fiscal-first-quarter loss as results weakened at each of the main manufacturing segments of the company. But, Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel C. Ustian appeared optimistic as he said that encouraging industry trends should push full-year earnings to around $5 to $6 a share. "We believe industry volumes should be at the higher end of our range. Military revenue will approach $2 billion, global volumes are expanding and so far we have contained challenges in commodity costs," Ustian said.
Navistar reported a loss of $6 million, or eight cents per share, for the quarter ended January 31. Excluding integration costs and a prior-year benefit, adjusted profit jumped 16 cents from three cents, while the revenue went down 2.3% to $2.74 billion. The company's truck segment is its largest by revenue. It posted an 8.6% lower profit, but earnings at the parts segment fell 29% and the engine segment also recorded loss in the first quarter.
Navistar has performed well in recent quarters due to prior cost cutting and the company also benefited due to the rise in demand for medium and heavy trucks from a sales slump that began in 2007.
Meanwhile, the manufacturer of climate, interior, electronic and lighting products for vehicle manufacturers, Visteon Corp.'s fourth-quarter profit dropped 69%. The company emerged from bankruptcy protection in October under a restructuring plan that reduced the debt of the company by more than $2 billion. The revenue suffered by the drop in automotive demand during the recession.
