ArvinMeritor Inc.'s (ARM) years of cost-cutting appear to be taking hold as the company readies itself for a recovery in the U.S. commercial truck market that could boost profitability in the second half of the year.
"The sale of large trucks in the U.S. has been down for almost four years now and some of those are looking long in the tooth," said Chief Executive Chip McClure. "If the economy picks up we will see a pickup in truck purchases."
ArvinMeritor needs an injection of new part orders to cap its business shift away from making automotive parts to producing only commercial truck parts.
Separately, McClure said he still plans to wind down the automotive chassis business and is in talks to sell the body unit, which includes making window regulators and electronics for car doors.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the maker of commercial- and light-vehicle parts posted breakeven results, compared with a prior-year loss of $961 million, or $13.29 a share, which included $856 million in write-downs. Revenue declined 6.1% to $1.15 billion.
McClure said the Brazil, India and China commercial truck markets are already coming back thanks to government policies and tax incentives.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a 7-cent loss on revenue of $1.06 billion.
The auto-parts supplier also said it expected second-quarter revenue to be flat sequentially, or at $1.15 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected $1.05 billion.
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