Navistar swings to profit, shares jump

Navistar International Corp. shares rose more than 10% Wednesday after the truck maker said it swung to a first-quarter profit on the back of its military and big-rig businesses, along with offering an upbeat outlook for the rest of the year.

Navistar stock tacked on $2.47 to close at $26.42 and is now 24% higher since the beginning of the year. The company posted first-quarter earnings of $234 million, or $3.27 a share, compared with a loss of $65 million or 92 cents a share in the year-ago period. Excluding a settlement with Ford Motor Co, the company would have reported earnings of 67 cents a share.

Revenue rose to $2.97 billion from $2.95 billion last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research estimated a quarterly profit, on average, of $1.08 a share on revenue of $3.34 billion. The company sees earnings, excluding gains from the Ford dispute, of $5.10 to $5.60 a share in 2009, compared with a Street consensus of $4.65 a share.

"Despite the difficult economic environment we currently are operating in, we have sufficient liquidity and borrowing capacity to execute our strategies," Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Ustian said in a statement. "We are on target to meet our aggressive goals and will continue to invest in our products, expand our global footprint and contain costs."

Views:0