Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions)
Our first question comes from Brett Hoselton.
Matt Maschon
Hi, guys. How are you doing?
Bud Fanelli
Hi, Brett.
Matt Maschon
This is actually [Matt Maschon], his associate. A couple of questions to ask you guys. First of all, great quarter, and it's nice to see somebody green on a day like today. SG&A, is this low rate sustainable as a percentage of sales?
Steve Borick
Looking at the quarter rate?
Matt Maschon
Yes.
Steve Borick
No. The expenses that were lower this year were kind of one-time, if you will. There was a situation in our retirement benefits, unfortunately there was a death or retirees. So we received a death benefit payment, which reduced our expenses for the year.
Matt Maschon
Okay
Steve Borick
And then the stock-based compensation was due strictly to the timing of options in the early -- they were in the early part of '06, whereas they were at the end of '07 because we held off, because of the derivative situation in '07. So, the expenses, if you look at anywhere between 2.5% to 3% for SG&A, you should be okay. Year-to-date number is more likely.
Matt Maschon
I guess, so, anywhere between 2.5% and 3%.
Steve Borick
Right.
Matt Maschon
As far your outlook for wheel shipments, what are you expecting for next year? Are we holding up or moderately up or really up?
Steve Borick
Well, with everything that's going on today, I'm not sure we can even estimate that at this point.
Matt Maschon
Okay.
Steve Borick
We get our numbers every Monday and not much more you can do in forecasting at the rate things are changing.
Matt Maschon
Are you seeing any kind of signs of like stabilization, is there any one customer doing any better than other?
Steve Borick
No.
Matt Maschon
The guys at General Motors doing better than Ford and such, any color on that?
Steve Borick
Mike, you want to?
Mike O'Rourke
This is Michael O'Rourke. On the passenger car side, definitely we've seen some strength on GM's new offering in the Malibu. CTS, we expect that's going to continue. We've seen some increases on tooling capacities on specifically the Malibu, which is good news. On the SUV and truck side, everyone's trying to differentiate with different option packages, so big wheels come into play. We might see an increase in some of the larger offerings as we go through '08, but it's a tough segment. And I think GM's done very well as we all know with the new offerings, and that's encouraging. And I think some of that's going to continue for them.
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