Goodyear President-CEO Richard Kramer sees opportunity in replenishing inventories

On the Call: Goodyear President-CEO Richard Kramer

Tire inventories dwindled during the recession with money so tight. J.P. Morgan analyst Himanshu Patel asked Goodyear executives on Thursday to discuss the commercial truck inventory situation. Goodyear’s president and CEO, Richard J. Kramer, said rebuilding inventories would provide a sales opportunity.

QUESTION: Could you guys comment on just the state of industry commercial (truck) vehicle higher inventories right now?

ANSWER: I would say that inventories are still pretty good out in the channel in the sense that people are still buying. No one was long on inventory coming out of 2009. The channel was low. It’s starting to restock a little bit, so we see an opportunity to sell more tires. I mean, as we look at it, we see that the commercial recovery is happening in each of our businesses and you notice we increased the outlook in both North America and European replacement and OE markets.