On Tuesday, Goodyear Tire & Rubber (nyse: GT - news - people ) reported roaring third-quarter earnings, despite a 6% decrease in American tire sales. The company swung in $668 million, or $2.75 per share, in the period ending Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $48 million, or 27 cents per share, in the similar period of 2006.

Goodyear's stock rose 7.6%, or $2.05, to $29.16, in Tuesday trading.

While North American sales fell due to a corporate decision to exit certain private-label tire businesses as well as weak consumer spending, Goodyear's sales were boosted by a 9% increase in the European Union, 13% in Eastern Europe, the Midde East and Africa, 20% in Latin America and 12% in the Asia Pacific region. The weak U.S./strong international results were simlar to those of consumer-products maker Colgate-Palmolive (nyse: CP - news - people ), illustrating how American multinationals are thriving in the current economic environment. (See "Colgate Investors Have Fresh Feeling")

Goodyear's third-quarter earnings include the sale of its engineered products business to EPD, a subsidiary of the Carlyle Group, which took place on Aug. 1. The company earned $1.48 billion for the deal, and plans to use those proceeds toward employee benefits, reducing debt and investing in its tire businesses. Excluding that gain, Goodyear earned 70 cents per share, beating Wall Street's predicted earnings of 53 cents per share.

"Our outstanding third quarter is evidence of the success we are seeing in marketing our premium product lines while remaining focused on improving our cost structure," said Robert J. Keegan, chairman of Goodyear. "Despite market challenges, our results are among the best ever achieved by Goodyear."

The Akron, Ohio-based company reported record third-quarter sales of $5.1 billion, up 3% from the comparable period of 2006, when Goodyear sales were $3.57 billion.

Goodyear has been recovering from a labor strike that took place in late 2006. Union workers in Tyler, Texas, disputed with the company over health benefits and the closing of a local plant. The feuding sides ultimately reached a deal, permitting Goodyear to close the plant but not right away. Workers got back to work, but the question remained about how much financial damage the strike had caused to the company's bottom line. (See: Goodyear Bounces Higher)

Itay Michaeli of Citigroup said he believes that Goodyear is a good stock to buy because of its "leading market position." The analyst expects "significant savings through the next stage of the company's restructuring" and assumes that a "strong debt reduction" is likely.

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/10/30/goodyear-tires-update-markets-equity-cx_ml_1030markets33.html