Bridgestone Beats 1Q Expectations, Revises Projections

Bridgestone Corp. posted better than anticipated results for the first quarter, prompting the company to make an upward revision to its FY2010 financial projections. For the quarter, Bridgestone posted sales of 659 billion yen, up 16.1% year-over-year, while net income rose from a 34.9 million yen loss last year to a net gain of 17.6 million yen.

The company’s tyre business saw an 18% rise in sales for the first quarter vs. the first period of 2009. Looking forward, Bridgestone now anticipates full year sales of 2.83 trillion yen, up 8.2% vs. 209’s final results.

In response to the positive results and forecasts, Wall Street Journal reports that the company’s stock price rallied, with its shares closing up 4.7 per cent at 1,634 yen.