TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. (TRW) announced that it would open a new Technical Center in Anting, China in 2013. The facility, covering an area of 32,000 square meters, will accommodate more than 1,000 engineers. The construction of the site will commence in autumn of this year.

The Technical Center will house research and development, engineering design and application, testing and validation activities across all of TRW’s product lines. It will provide technical and commercial services to its customers.

TRW, a leading manufacturer of advanced technology products and services for the automotive markets, believes the Technical Center would cater to fast growing automotive industry in China. It expects more than 26 million vehicles will be built in China in 2016.

TRW,a Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) stock,posted a profit of $225 million or $1.72 per share in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared with $168 million or $1.40 per share in the same quarter of prior year. The profit outstripped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 49 cents per share. The results excluded special items such as restructuring charges, debt retirement charges, a net gain related to pension obligations and favorable net tax items.

Sales in the quarter escalated 10% to $3.71 billion driven by higher global vehicle production volumes than the prior year quarter, offset partially by the negative impact of currency movements. It has also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.43 billion.

Operating margin (excluding the above-mentioned items) improved to 8.4% from 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2009. This was attributable to higher sales, offset partially by unfavorable currency exchange rate movements and a rise in raw material prices.

The company anticipates sales in the range of $14.9 billion−$15.3 billion for full year 2011, including $3.9 billion for the first quarter of the year. The expectations were based on the assumptions for industry production volumes of 12.7 million units in North America and 18.7 million units in Europe. The company continues to expect China and the rest of world regions to be the growth drivers in 2011.

 
TRW AUTOMTV HLD (TRW): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Zacks Investment Research