For the third quarter of 2008, Goodyear announced that sales increased to $5.17 B, from $5.06 B over the same period in 2007. However, earnings fell to $31 million from $668 million. This large drop in profit was a result of one time gains on the 2007 sale of GT's engineered products division, as well as a weaker US auto market. This was partially offset by strong demand from emerging markets and a shift amongst automakers toward the use of more highly engineered, and hence higher margin tires.[1]
Goodyear beat analyst estimates for earnings by nearly 50%. This was attributed to a weak dollar helping foreign sales, increases in premium high-margin tire sales, and commodity increases passed to consumers.
Goodyear posted a net loss of $174 million in the first quarter.
Goodyear changed to a 401(k) plan for its workers. This policy shift expects to reduce costs by more than $1 billion by the end of 2008.
Edit Metric
