Titan International, Inc.

Titan International, Inc. (TWI - Snapshot Report) just announced record sales for the second quarter of 2008 and increased its quarterly earnings by 167%, year-over-year. Analysts project an impressive growth rate for next year of 92.7% and is driven by its growing product line.

Company Description

Titan International manufactures wheels and tires for construction, agricultural, and consumer purposes. While the company's origin dates to over 100 years ago, they shifted focus to the tire market in 1993. Titan supplies some of the most well known companies like Deere & Co, and Caterpillar, Inc. The company has a world-wide presence through its subsidiaries and is headquartered in Quincy, IL.

A Record-Setting Quarter

Titan announced second-quarter earnings per share of 48 cents, which is up 167% year-over-year. The second-quarter results also included record setting sales of $269.1 million, up from $210.3 million in the same period last year.

The company also announced a gross profit of $41.9 million, up from $27.3 million in the second quarter of 2007. Titan's CEO credits an increasingly efficient manufacturing process and better alignment between sale prices and production costs.

"Big Daddy" is in Production

Titan Tire Corp, a subsidiary of Titan International, shipped the first 63-inch tire and wheel assembly on July 29th. The massive tire assembly, appropriately nick-named "Big Daddy", measures almost 14 feet high and weighs over 6 tons.

While Titan is hoping to ship 900 of the new tires by the end of the year, full scale production does not start until January of next year.

A Positive Outlook

Titan has a projected growth rate of 92.7% for 2009 and is currently a Zacks #1 rated stock. The consensus earnings estimates for the year-end of 2008 and 2009 have risen 14% and 4%, respectively, within the last week. Zacks.com has rated Titan as the number one company in its industry and it carries an average broker recommendation of 1.5.

The Chart

The stock jumped higher to set its 52-week and all-time high of $47.49 just after the second-quarter announcement. Take a look at the chart below.