Cooper Tire & Rubber Q2 Profit Up; To Buy Back Shares - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s (CTB) second-quarter 2014 net income attributable to the company improved to $38 million, or $0.59 per share, from $35 million, or $0.55 per share, last year. On average, 4 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.80 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Operating profit for the tri-monthly period was $77 million, higher than $69 million reported a year back.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2014, the firm recorded net sales of $889 million, up 1 percent from $884 million in 2013. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $863.27 million for the quarter.

Second-quarter raw material costs declined nearly 1 percent from the first quarter of 2014. The company expects third-quarter raw material costs to be roughly flat sequentially. The long-term raw material outlook is for costs to generally trend higher, with periods of volatility.

In a separate press release, the company said it has entered into an accelerated share repurchase (ASR) program with J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JPM). As part of the ASR agreement, the company would buy back an aggregate of $200 million of its common stock. Cooper would receive about 80 percent of the number of shares to be repurchased at the inception of the ASR program, or approximately 5.6 million shares, based on the closing price on August 6, 2014.