Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (GT) has priced its offering of an additional $100 million aggregate principal amount of its 8.25% senior unsecured notes due August 15, 2020. The company will sell the notes at 100.75% of the principal amount.
 
It expects the offering to close on August 25, 2010, subject to customary closing conditions. Goodyear plans to utilize the net proceeds from this offering, along with current cash and cash equivalents, to redeem $260 million in principal amount of its outstanding of 9% senior notes due 2015.
 
Last week, the company has increased the size of its 2020 Notes sale with the issuance of $900 million of 8.25% senior notes. This, along with the latest offering, will therefore increase the aggregate principal amount of the 8.25% 2020 Notes to $1 billion.
 
The proceeds from the issuance of $900 million of 8.25% senior notes are being used to pay off other debt maturing next year –– $325 million of 8 5/8% notes and $388 million of 7.857% notes.
 
In March this year, the company has completed its offer to exchange its outstanding 7.857% Notes due 2011 for 8.75% Notes due 2020. As of June 30, 2010, the company had an outstanding 2020 Notes of $282 million in aggregate principal amount.
 
In the second quarter of the year, Goodyear saw a profit of $31 million or 12 cents per share (excluding special items) in the second quarter of the year in sharp contrast to a loss of $240 million or $1.00 per share (excluding special items) in the same quarter a year ago.
 
The company has significantly exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a profit of 4 cents per share during the quarter. The higher profit was led by an impressive rise in tire unit volume, particularly in the company’s North American Tire segment, during the quarter.
 
Sales during the quarter grew 15% to $4.5 billion, higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $120 million. This reflected a positive impact of $304 million led by a 10% increase in tire unit volume due to a strong global demand.
 
Sales were also boosted by $161 million from higher sales in other tire-related businesses, mainly third-party chemical sales in North America, and by better price and product mix. These were partially offset by an unfavorable foreign currency translation effect of $37 million.   
 
We are optimistic about Goodyear’s cost-saving actions. The company has succeeded in achieving cost reductions of $2.5 billion by 2009 and has also targeted an additional $1 billion of gross savings by 2012. In addition, the company will benefit from its focus in the emerging markets of Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia.
 
However, Goodyear faces pricing pressure from OEMs due to weak industry demand. Further, its highly-leveraged balance sheet is worrisome. As a result, we continue to recommend the shares of the company as Hold (Zacks #3 Rank) in the short term (1–3 months) and Neutral in the long term (6+ months).
 
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