By Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay

BANGALORE, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Wabco Holdings Inc, a supplier of safety and control systems for commercial vehicles, posted a surprise quarterly profit due to lower expenses, and said it was seeing signs of growth in North America, sending its shares to a 52-week high.
Shares of the Brussels, Belgium-based company rose as much as 10 percent to $26.12 in morning trade Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, defying the weakness in the broader market.
Growth in the North American market, which has been anemic for quite a while, will be driven mainly by the pre-buy effect on trucks and engines, Chief Executive Jacques Esculier said on a conference call.
Wabco, whose key customers are Daimler AG, ArvinMeritor Inc and Fiat SpA, said it expects U.S. demand to grow sequentially in the fourth quarter.
Analyst Stephen Tusa of J.P. Morgan Securities said, "the increased traction on cost takeout is a positive, particularly if volumes return next year, which sets the stage for 2010."
The world's biggest truckmaker Daimler recently said it is seeing evidence the U.S. truck market has bottomed.
In 2010, Wabco, which caters to truck and bus OEMs, sees double-digit improvement in production in North America and Japan.
The China stimulus package has had a significant impact in the number of trucks built in that country, the CEO said.

"Wabco's business is starting to grow in all regions because the customers have been producing less than the product sales," analyst Edward Wheeler of Buckingham Research said. "And now that the inventories have been adjusted, the production will increase just to keep up with even low sales."
Europe - which accounted for 61 percent of Wabco's third-quarter sales - is expected to see a 15 percent to 20 percent rise in truck and bus production over the next two quarters, the company said.

Q3 BEATS STREET For the third quarter, Wabco reported net income was $33.8 million, or 52 cents a share, compared with net income of $63.7 million, or 97 cents a share, a year ago.
Excluding items, the company earned 19 cents a share. Analysts on average were expecting the company to post a loss of 6 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue for the company fell 42 percent to $382.0 million. Analysts were expecting $321.1 million.
Selling and administrative expenses fell 26 percent to $61.3 million.

(Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan, Ratul Ray Chaudhuri) Keywords: WABCO/ (bhaswati.mukho@thomsonreuterbs.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: bhaswati.mukho.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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