Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (CTB) has surprised on estimates 4 consecutive quarters by an average of 330.99%. The company trades is attractively valued with a forward P/E of 10.6.

Company Description

Cooper Tire & Rubber manufactures tires for passenger cars, light and medium trucks. It also has subsidiaries that make motorcycle and racing tires. The company has facilities in 10 countries.

Cooper Tire Surprised Again in the Third Quarter

On Nov 2, Cooper Tire reported third quarter results and continued its hot streak by beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20.31%. Earnings per share were 77 cents compared to the Zacks Consensus of 64 cents.

Sales rose 1% to $803 million from $794 million in the year ago period. Lower raw material costs, manufacturing improvements and improved utilization of capacity boosted the results.

Quarterly sales volumes, which showed improvement, also helped propel results. However, the company is still seeing unfavorable price and mix and also saw restructuring charges in the quarter.

International tire sales rose 4% to $297 million from a year ago. It was a tale of two markets as Asian sales were strong, increasing 28%, while Europe saw a decline of 13%. North American tire sales fell 2%.

Raw material costs have jumped in recent months but the company doesn’t expect levels to return to the 2008 highs which significantly impacted operating results.

Zacks Consensus Estimates Jump

Covering analysts are optimistic about the rest of 2009 and 2010. The fourth quarter Zacks Consensus Estimate is up 1 cent to 38 cents in the last 30 days but is up 55% from 90 days ago.

All 4 covering analysts are bullish on 2009. The full year consensus climbed 19.6% to $1.77 from $1.48 per share in the last month. For 2010, estimates rose to $1.87 from $1.75 per share in the last 30 days.

Value Fundamentals

Cooper Tire & Rubber is a Zacks #1 Rank (strong buy) stock. It has a price-to-book ratio of 2.55. The company has a solid 1-year return on equity (ROE) of 11.7%. It also rewards shareholders with a dividend of 2.24%.

Zacks Investment Research

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