Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi gets a sneak peak of Goodyear’s global headquarters in Akron, Ohio before his interview with Goodyear CEO Rich Kramer.
Video Transcript
MYLES UDLAND: All right, welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live on this Wednesday morning. Brian Sozzi at a disclosed location, Northeastern Ohio at the Goodyear plant. Sozzi, what’s going on? What’s the tire business telling us about the US economy right now?
BRIAN SOZZI: Good to see you. Top of the morning, Myles and Julie. Yes, so, now, I’m in a disclosed location, Akron, Ohio, really the Mecca of tires here in this country at the Goodyear Headquarters. And I was just taking a tour. Goodyear gave me a tour of some of the tire technology that is ultimately shaping the future of tires.
And I tell you, Myles, you and I read a lot of earnings calls, we read a lot of earnings statements, and I think lost in the sauce here, in particular for a company like a Goodyear, a lot of technology that goes into this stuff, and where tire technology is going over the next 10 years. And I’m standing here next to this big boy here.
This is the Eagle 360. And if you notice, this is an actual tire. I compared it to a computer mouse. This might eventually be the tire of the future. It’s something they are working on in test form.
Obviously, no rim on this tire. Can you imagine just parallel parking side by side? I know I would definitely dig for these on my car.
But as you mentioned, part of the reason why we are here, Goodyear just reported really a bang up quarter I think surprised a lot of folks on the street. 84.3% increase in tire units as more people, just replace their tires. And then you had the automakers, of course, trying to pump out as many cars as they could.
And maybe at some point, they’ll be making cars with a tire like this. This is a non-pneumatic tire. Again, as you can see, no rim in here. This tire will probably be very helpful in the future with electric vehicles, but again, this is something that a Goodyear is working on here. Could it go 40, 50, 60,000 miles? Sure, but again, this is a look into the future of tire technology in this country.
And really Myles and Julie, I mentioned that the quarter here for Goodyear, the units were up 84.3%. Really, it was broad based. It was the US, it was Europe, and it’s certainly China. And it’s not just passenger cars. Here, you know, we’re in the refrigerator, as they call it here, at Goodyear Headquarters.
It is commercial applications. And what you’re looking at here is about a 1/4 of a tire used on a mining machine. This is an 11,000-pound tire that you see in commercial applications, but again, commercial has also started to come back for Goodyear, as many businesses try to power back from the pandemic.
JULIE HYMAN: Hey, it’s interesting, Soz, to hear you talk about sort of tire innovation. I know we love to talk about innovation on the show. And it’s cool to see those tires. And as you talk about that, it occurs to me, like, when’s the last time we had tire innovations?
Tires have stayed the same, at least from an outsider’s perspective, for a long time. It feels like we’re overdue for some cool tires, considering, especially, what we’ve seen elsewhere in the auto industry.
BRIAN SOZZI: You’re right, Julie. That is a big topic for us on the morning show consistently. What defines innovation? And really, I have to be honest, something that I didn’t appreciate being out here, how much innovation is still going into the tires that we go to the stores and spend a couple hundred dollars on.
It could be a tread is a little bit different. Maybe it’s a little bit higher. The designs are different. There are some tires now that have foam technology inside of it.
So, the future of the tire is changing. We may not necessarily see it, but there is a lot of technology and innovation going into these tires. And you can absolutely– and it’s something that I appreciate a lot more spending an hour with the team here.
MYLES UDLAND: All right, Yahoo Finance’s, Brian Sozzi, live in Akron. Soz, you’re going to be speaking to Goodyear CEO and Chairman, Rich Kramer, coming up in the 1:00 PM hour. Preview that conversation for us?
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, again, we’re going to be talking about the quarter. Also curious on their sustainability efforts. So, Kramer, I believe, mentioned on the earnings call, they’re looking at trying to do sustainable tires. Could it happen by 2030? That is the road that Goodyear is ultimately on.
MYLES UDLAND: I’m so sad, Sozzi, that on this inflation morning, you were out on assignment. So, we couldn’t have a– couldn’t have data on what that data says.
BRIAN SOZZI: I will quickly add, tire prices have gone up. So, there’s my inflationary sound bite for you.
MYLES UDLAND: There you go. Instead of us all, you know, me, and Brian Cheung, and Julie, agreeing. You’re just out there, you know, pounding pavement, shoe leather reporting–
BRIAN SOZZI: Do you need any help on earnings this morning? Weight Watchers, you need any help, anything? Wait, Wendy’s?
MYLES UDLAND: Oh, I mean, tough quarter for WW there. We got– are you back tomorrow, or you back Friday? Friday, right?
BRIAN SOZZI: I’ll be back Friday. I’ll have more to say on the Weight Watchers quarter. But again, it was a tough quarter. The stock was plunging when I woke up earlier.
MYLES UDLAND: I was going to say. Yes, stock 25% at last check. We’ll put a pin in that and we’ll circle back. Also, Wendy’s, this morning, I know you got a lot on that– got a lot on all of that. All right, Brian Sozzi, live in Akron. Soz, we’ll see you a couple of hours here on Yahoo Finance Live.