Cooper Tire & Rubber Slips To Loss In Q4

(RTTNews) - Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (CTB) reported that its fourth-quarter net loss attributable to the company was $42.16 million or $0.82 per share, compared to net income of $69.32 million or $1.28 per share in the same quarter last year.

Adjusted net income attributable to the company for the latest-quarter was $25.88 million or $0.50 per share.

Fourth quarter 2017 operating profit was $47 million compared with $105 million for the same period last year. Operating profit included $32 million of unfavorable raw material costs, net of price and mix, $13 million of higher manufacturing costs, $11 million of lower unit volume and $2 million of higher product liability costs.

Fourth quarter net sales were $757 million, a decrease of 3.4 percent compared with $784 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. Fourth quarter net sales were negatively impacted by $15 million of lower unit volume and $14 million of unfavorable price and mix, partially offset by $2 million of favorable foreign currency impact.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.63 per share and revenues of $751.84 million. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Moving forward, the companys expect results to improve as initiatives begin to take hold, and as underlying macro-conditions that favor tire industry growth have a positive impact. For 2018, it expects unit volume growth compared to 2017.

Due to the reclassification of certain pension costs, the company has restated upwards mid-term operating profit margin target to be in the range of 9 to 11 percent. For full year 2018, it expects to be near the low end of this range.