Stand by for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. financial results. Do not adjust your computer or fax machine. The Akron company is experiencing reporting difficulties again.

Goodyear surprised investors on Wednesday by postponing the release of its first-quarter results for the second time, saying it needs more time to complete the financial statements. The company said the delay was not due to any deeper problems.

``It's just taking more time than we had anticipated to close the first quarter,'' Goodyear spokesman Keith Price said. ``It's a pretty thorough process.''

The company made the announcement less than an hour before it was scheduled to begin a conference call at 9 a.m. with analysts, investors and reporters to review the financial results.

The delay unsettled some analysts.

``It does not give you confidence in Goodyear when they can't get the earnings out when they say they're going to. These guys can't seem to get their act together,'' said Efraim Levy, an analyst at Standard & Poor's in New York.

Goodyear said it expects to report record first-quarter sales of about $4.3 billion, up from $3.5 billion a year ago. It also expects to report a quarterly net loss of between $75 million and $85 million, narrower than the $196.5 million loss a year ago.

The loss is equivalent to 43 to 48 cents a share, worse than the average forecast of 23 cents a share expected by Wall Street analysts, according to Thomson Financial.

The company also said it expects operating results to ``improve significantly'' in six of its seven divisions, including the long-struggling North American Tire division.

The quarterly loss will be the 10th in the past 14 quarters for Goodyear. The company has lost $2.2 billion since 2000. Goodyear said it expects to file its statements by the June 30 deadline required by its lenders.

``We consider it a sign of continued poor management that Goodyear was unprepared to release its results as expected,'' Merrill Lynch analyst Jacqueline Weiss said in a report. ``Nevertheless, we have recently been more encouraged by a sense that the company has been performing better.''

It was the second delay in recent weeks for Goodyear. On May 11, the company filed a notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would miss a May 15 deadline to report the first-quarter earnings, while it continued an investigation into improper accounting.

As a result of the investigation, Goodyear last month reduced its previously reported profits by $280.8 million back to 1999.

Saul Ludwig, an analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland, called the latest delay ``an embarrassment'' for Goodyear. But he said the company probably is taking pains to avoid making any further accounting mistakes. ``They want to cross all the t's and dot all the i's, whatever it takes,'' he said.

Ludwig said he was pleased by the company's record first-quarter sales. But the projected loss was more than double what he expected. He chalked up most of the difference to restructuring charges, higher taxes and other special items.

The Beacon Journal

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2004