Dow Jones Newswires | Navistar International Corp. raised its
2010 profit outlook, saying it has seen increased military orders. The
commercial truck maker boosted its full-year profit outlook to $2.75 to
$3.25 per share from the view it gave in March of $1.75 to $2.25 a
share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently expected $2.46
a share.

The company also said recent government health-care policy changes are expected to have no impact on income tax expense.

Last month, the company said a $750 million military truck order from February and revenue from upgrades to the existing fleet of Navistar-built military trucks would raise the company’s profit this year but that it didn’t know yet by how much.

“The only question is when will we ship those orders,” Chief Executive Dan Ustian said at the time.

Navistar’s military business is taking on increased importance this year, as weakness persists in the commercial truck and engine market. The company’s first-quarter results were much lower than expected, as profit fell 93 percent from a year ago. The company expects industry-wide truck sales in the U.S. and Canada to increase 5 percent to 10 percent from 2009, with most of the improvement in the second half of the year.

Shares rose 2.8 percent to $48.36 in premarket trading. As of Wednesday’s close, shares have climbed 48 percent in the past 12 months.