In business for 119 years, this company continues to seek ways to improve its products, through technology and acquisition.

It has developed a new, more-efficient tire using soybean oil extract and has enhanced its services with a German acquisition.  In the meantime, the shares appear to have ample room for growth, trading at just 8 times its forecast earnings for 2018.

GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO. (symbol GT on Nasdaq; www.goodyear.com) is one of the world’s largest tire makers. It has 47 production plants in 21 countries worldwide.

For the three months ended December 31, 2017, the company earned $0.99 a share, excluding one-time items. That’s an increase of 4.2%, from $0.95 a year earlier.

Revenue rose 8.8%, to $4.07 billion from $3.74 billion. Goodyear sold more tires overall, including more high-profit-margin premium tires.

The long-term outlook for vehicle and tire sales is strong. That’s due to cheaper gas, growing employment and a rise in the number of miles consumers now drive.

The company continues to develop connected tire, which rely on embedded sensors to let drivers know when they need to be serviced or replaced. Goodyear’s own exclusive algorithms will drive that technology.

The company has also developed a new tire that uses a soybean oil extract. That substance helps make rubber more pliable in lower temperatures. In turn, that improves the tire’s traction and handling in snow and wet conditions.

Using renewable materials like soybean oil boosts Goodyear’s manufacturing efficiency and cuts its energy costs. Innovations like this should give the company an advantage over rival tire makers. The achievement was recently honoured at the Tire Technology Expo in Hanover. Germany. And Goodyear has launched the new tires under its Assurance WeatherReady and Eagle Enforcer all weather brands.

Value Stocks: German acquisition helps truckers ensure tire safety

In November 2017, Goodyear completed the acquisition of Germany’s Ventech Systems GmbH, a leader in automated tire inspection technology.

As vehicles, including buses, trucks and cars, drive over Ventech’s PneuScan device, the system measures their tire pressure, tread depth and vehicle weight.

With the Ventech acquisition, Goodyear moves further into the fleet management business. Aside from fuel costs, the care and maintenance of truck tires is one of the largest contributors to operational costs for commercial fleets. With this latest purchase, the company will more efficiently help fleet operators identify tire-related safety issues.

In December 2017, the company inflated a 337-foot-long hangar at its Carson blimp base near Los Angeles. The new structure will serve as the home of Goodyear’s newest blimp Wingfoot Two, which began operating in the city in October.

Stretching about as long as a football field, the nine-story hangar is the largest inflatable structure of its kind in North America and will protect the company’s new state-of-the-art blimp from the elements.

It also gives the company a highly visible presence on the ground along one of the busiest highways in the U.S., the I-405 freeway.

The new hangar was manufactured for Goodyear by U.K.-based Lindstrand Technologies Ltd., a world leader in designing and building inflatable structures for passenger airline hangars, airline terminal roofs on military bases.

Goodyear has flown its iconic blimps for more than 90 years and has operated its base in Carson since 1968.

With the December 2017 payment, the company raised its quarterly dividend by 40.0%, to $0.14 from $0.10. The shares now yield 1.9%. The stock trades at just 8.0 times its projected 2018 earnings of $3.60 a share.

Recommendation in Stock Pickers Digest: Goodyear Tire & Rubber is a buy.

For our advice on how to recognize the potential of an undervalued stock, read What is a Value Stock? An opportunity for future gains in disguise.

For our recent report on a U.S. value stock we rate as a buy, read Strong global markets help preserve this stock’s value.