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CHICAGO, July 21 (Reuters) - Auto parts maker Dana Corp. on Wednesday said quarterly net earnings more than doubled, benefiting from a strong heavy-truck market and a gain from the planned sale of its replacement parts business, sending its shares up more than 6 percent.
Demand for heavy trucks has surged this year as the U.S. economic recovery has gained traction.
Dana, one of the world's largest automotive suppliers, said it was optimistic about production levels in the North American heavy truck sector in the second half of the year, but it sounded a cautious note on light vehicles, which include cars, light trucks and sport utility vehicles.
"Rising North American light-vehicle inventory levels also point to the potential for reductions in production schedules in that sector during the second half of the year," Dana's chairman and chief executive, Mike Burns, said in a statement.
He also said rising raw materials costs were a continuing challenge.
Dana's second-quarter net income rose to $108 million, or 72 cents a share, from $52 million, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding unusual items, the maker of axles, brakes and engine parts earned $75 million, or 50 cents a share. Analysts had expected of 49 cents a share, with estimates ranging from 44 cents to 55 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Income in the latest quarter included $33 million of unusual gains from the planned sale of the company's automotive replacement parts unit. Last year's quarter included $5 million of unusual gains.
The $33 million in gains includes tax benefits expected to be triggered by the sale of the replacement parts unit as well as the divestiture of certain assets of the company's financing arm.
Dana earlier this month said it agreed to sell its replacement parts business to private equity firm Cypress Group for $1.1 billion. It put the business on the block in December, just weeks after fighting off a takeover attempt by smaller rival ArvinMeritor Inc. .
Dana, based in Toledo, Ohio, said second-quarter sales climbed to $2.3 billion from $2 billion a year earlier.
It stood by its full-year forecast for earnings per share of at least $1.90, excluding special items.
Shares of Dana rose $1.25, or 6.85 percent, to $19.50 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares are near the middle of their 52-week trading range.