Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. fell the most in New York trading in 22 years after the largest U.S. tiremaker forecast a North American operating loss this quarter.

The outlook came as the Akron, Ohio-based company said third-quarter net income more than doubled to $72 million, or 30 cents a share, from $31 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier. Sales fell 15 percent to $4.4 billion.

Chief Financial Officer Darren Wells told analysts on a call today that operating income in North America will decline in a range of $75 million to $125 million this quarter from the previous three months. Third-quarter profit on that basis was $2 million, the lowest for Goodyear’s four regions. North America is its biggest region by revenue.

“They didn’t make hardly any money in North America,” said Saul Ludwig, an analyst at Keybanc Capital Markets Inc. in Cleveland. He rates the shares “buy.”

Goodyear fell $3.28, or 20 percent, to $13.46 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. That the shares’ biggest daily percentage drop since Oct. 19, 1987, and the steepest slide today in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The tiremaker credited cost-cutting efforts and lower materials prices for the increase in third-quarter earnings. The profit was Goodyear’s first in four quarters.

Goodyear has been reducing expenses by cutting output, shifting production to lower-cost plants and eliminating about 5,800 jobs this year, including 300 in the third quarter.

‘Improving Market Conditions’

“Cost and cash actions together with improving market conditions and lower raw material costs drove improved third- quarter earnings,” Chief Executive Officer Robert Keegan said in a statement.

Per-share profit excluding expenses such as a loss from liquidating a subsidiary in Guatemala was 45 cents, beating the 40-cent average of 7 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Goodyear said it expects global industry growth in 2010 from this year.

The company introduced 15 products in the quarter, adding to 42 in the first half, which beat the company’s goal of 50 new-product offerings this year.

The tiremaker also said in a statement today that it plans to make 63-inch tires for off-road vehicles. The company will upgrade a plant in Topeka, Kansas, to produce the tires.

Demand for such tires is strong “because of the economic advantages these tires deliver to customers in longer run hours and less downtime,” Goodyear said.

The company gets about 70 percent of its revenue from purchases by consumers and the rest from sales to manufacturers such as automakers and producers of off-road vehicles, according to a presentation last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Ortolani in Southfield, Michigan, at aortolani1bloomberg.net; Mike Ramsey in Southfield, Michigan, at mramsey6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 28, 2009 16:16 EDT