S&P cuts Navistar credit rating
Standard & Poor's cuts Navistar credit rating after truck maker posts wider 2Q loss
NEW YORK (AP) -- Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Friday cut the credit rating of truck and engine Navistar International Corp. by one notch, citing the poor second-quarter results it posted Monday.
S&P cut the Lisle, Ill., company's rating to "B-" from "B," putting it six rungs below investment grade.
S&P said it considers Navistar's liquidity to be "less than adequate," but still sufficient to pursue its strategy of winning back lost market share over the next year.
The agency kept a negative outlook on the company's credit rating, reflecting a view that Navistar will continue to generate large losses.
On Monday, the company said it lost $374 million, or $4.65 per share, in the fiscal second quarter, which ended April 30. That was more than the loss of $172 million, or $2.50 per share, it posted in the same period last year, but the previous year's included a $181 million gain related to deferred tax assets in Canada.
Revenue came in at $2.53 billion, below the $2.84 billion Wall Street expected and 23 percent below last year's figure.
Navistar shares fell 9 cents to close Friday at $31. The shares are down 9.6 percent since it released its second-quarter results.
