Goodyear posts loss; sales hit record

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., dealing with a 4-week-old strike, reported a loss of $48 million for the third quarter Thursday because of restructuring charges and higher raw material costs. Its sales rose to a company record for any quarter, however, and its shares climbed more than 15% in trading.

The loss for the world’s third-largest tire maker amounted to 27 cents a share for the July-September period, including $126 million, or 71 cents, in after-tax restructuring charges. Of those charges, $107 million, or 60 cents a share, are tied to Goodyear’s planned closing of its tire plant in Tyler, Texas.

A year earlier, Akron, Ohio-based Goodyear earned $142 million, or 70 cents a share, in the third quarter. Those earnings included items that in total boosted earnings by 10 cents a share.

Analysts surveyed for Thomson Financial expected earnings of 24 cents a share for the latest quarter.

Goodyear sales rose to $5.28 billion, a record for any Goodyear quarter and a 6% increase from $5.03 billion a year earlier. Improved sales were driven by higher pricing and a better product mix, particularly in its North American Tire unit, the company said.

Its shares soared $2.37 to $17.54. They have traded in a 52-week range of $9.75 to $19.31.

Goodyear has been dealing with a strike involving more than 12,000 members of the United Steelworkers union who walked off jobs in the United States and Canada on Oct. 5.

The United Steelworkers union and Goodyear on Thursday indicated that they were ready to get back to the bargaining table. Goodyear said it was sending its negotiating team back to Cincinnati.

Tire volume was 55.8 million units in the quarter, compared with 58.4 million units in the 2005 period. The 4% decrease was in part a result of the company’s exit from certain segments of the private-label tire business in North America.