Navistar International will reduce global employment by more than 10%, the maker of International brand trucks said Tuesday.
The Lisle-based manufacturer, which has more than 13,300 workers worldwide, slashed its forecast for 2020 revenue to below the lowest estimate among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Navistar stock closed at $29.98 Tuesday, down more than 10%.
“We are taking actions to adjust our business to current market conditions,” Navistar Chairman and CEO Troy Clarke said in a news release, adding that the company was “reducing production rates and SG&A (selling, general and administrative) expenses while restructuring our global and export operations.”
Navistar follows truck-engine maker Cummins, which announced plans in November to dismiss 2,000 salaried employees as part of a $300 million cost-cutting effort next year, and Meritor, which in September flagged $20 million in severance costs linked to a restructuring the components supplier expects to complete by the end of the year.
Trucking companies ordered too many vehicles last year when freight volumes were growing. That overhang is causing freight prices to drop and orders to plunge. Convoy, a startup that connects shippers with truck drivers, believes the freight industry has been in recession since fall 2018, its economist said in an August blog post.
“Our concern had been that we would slip into something that might look like a manufacturing recession in the first half of 2020,” Navistar’s Clarke told analysts on an earnings call Tuesday. “If we do, then that could make the second half look a little more challenging.”