10/29/18 – 7:28 A.M.

Cooper Tire & Rubber’s third quarter net sales were relatively flat to 2017, but operating profit dropped by more than 26 percent between July and September of this year. Cooper filed it’s quarterly earnings report this morning. Net sales came in at $738 million for the third quarter of 2018. That’s up from $734 million during the third quarter of 2017. Operating profit for the third quarter of this year was $81 million, down from $111 million a year ago.

CEO Brad Hughes says unit volume improved in the U.S. over the last three months. He added, “Cooper also achieved year-over-year operating profit improvement in our International segment, as well as unit volume growth in our truck and bus radial tire business.”

Raw material costs continue to be an issue for the tire maker. A release from the company says the third quarter raw material index increased 12.4 percent from the third quarter of 2017.

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