The U.S.-listed shares of Autoliv Inc. ALV, -2.24% climbed 2.8% in premarket trading Friday, even after the Sweden-based automotive safety systems company reported third-quarter profit and sales that came up short of expectations but said pricing actions were starting to drive improved results. Operating income rose to $171 million, or $1.21 a share, from $99 million, or 68 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $1.23 was below the FactSet consensus of $1.25. Sales grew 24.6% to a record $2.30 billion, as price increases provided the primary boost, but missed the FactSet consensus of $2.33 billion. Adjusted operating margin increased to 7.5%, and the company said despite the “challenging macro environment,” full-year adjusted operating margin is expected to be toward the upper end of the range of 6.0% to 7.0%. “Our actions initiated earlier in the year are now delivering results, especially our price adjustments to compensate for the inflationary pressures and our cost reduction activities,” said Chief Exeuctive Mikael Bratt. The stock has lost 9.5% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.80% has declined 8.3%.
