Navistar president & CEO Daniel C. Ustian said that the third-quarter profit was achieved despite continued softness in medium truck shipments, but said he was encouraged by strong pickup in new medium truck orders in July.
"Our focus continues to be on improving our cost structure so that we can be profitable at all points of the business cycle," Ustian said.
Net income from continuing operations for the quarter totaled $19 million, compared with a loss of $16 million a year ago. Consolidated sales and revenues from manufacturing and financial services operations for the third quarter totaled $1.9 billion, compared with $1.6 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
According to Ustian, preliminary July industry Class 6-7 truck orders totaled 7,700 units, up 37% over a year ago and the highest monthly total since August 2002. Industry-wide heavy-duty truck orders in July totaled 17,200 units, the third consecutive month of solid order rates.
For the first nine months of fiscal 2003, Navistar reported a loss from continuing operations of $91 million, compared with a loss of $71 million in the first nine months of 2002. Consolidated sales and revenues for the first nine months of fiscal 2003 rose to $5.3 billion from $4.7 billion in the same period in 2002.
