Navistar Posts Profit Drop, Warns of Loss

Navistar International Corp. reported a steeper-than-expected 36% drop in quarterly profit and warned that it may have a loss in the current quarter, sending the truck maker’s shares down 32%. The company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell to $85 million, or $1.41 a share, compared with the $1.68 a share that analysts had expected, as North American demand for new trucks slowed. Sales plunged 23% to $1.97 billion. The Chicago-based company told analysts that it probably will have an unspecified loss in its first quarter that began in November. Chief Financial Officer Robert Lannert also said fiscal 2001 profit could be $2.50 to $2.60 a share, about half the $4.84 average forecast in a First Call/Thomson Financial survey. Navistar shares plunged $10.81 to close at $22.69 on the New York Stock Exchange.