Navistar shares rise on strong 3Q results

Shares of heavy truck maker Navistar International Corp. soared Thursday on investor approval of its third-quarter results and raised fiscal-year profit outlook.

Navistar shares rose $4.96, or 9.2 percent, to $59.01, after reaching as high as $61 earlier in the session.

Navistar said it posted a third-quarter profit of $272 million, or $3.68 per share, on $4 billion in revenue. The company did not provide prior-year figures for comparison.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected $3.9 billion in revenue.

The company also boosted its 2008 profit prediction to a range of $467 million to $548 million, or $6.35 to $7.45 per share, on about $15 billion in revenue.

The company previously projected a profit of $312 million to $418 million, or $4.26 a share to $5.72 a share, on revenue exceeding $15 billion.

Analysts, on average, expect a profit of $4.63 per share on $14.7 billion in revenue.

Company officials credited the third-quarter results to increased military revenue and strong demand from growing nontraditional truck markets that offset soft North American demand.

Engine shipments decreased 27 percent to 79,300 due to reduced orders for diesel engines in Ford heavy-duty pickups.

Navistar shares returned to trading on the New York Stock Exchange in late June after a year's absence stemming from more than two years of delayed regulatory filings related to accounting problems.