FINDLAY, Ohio (July 12, 2006) — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. will be removed from the S&P 500 index after the close of trading July 17, Standard & Poor's said.
S&P will replace the Findlay-based tire maker with Windstream Corp., the combined company of Alltel Corp. and Valor Communications Group Inc. Alltel is in the index.
As of July 11's close, Cooper had a market cap of about $664 million, ranking the firm 500th in the index of stocks.
S&P said deletions from its index do not reflect an opinion about the investment merits of the company, but other media outlets suggest that deletion from an index can signal a decrease in the company's stock price as the stock loses high visibility.