_800x533_L_1412520412.jpg)
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Volvo, the world's second biggest truck maker, should be able to finish off 2014 with a double-digit operating margin, one of its biggest investors was quoted as saying in Swedish media on Tuesday.
"Our investment is entirely okay, but it can be much, much better," Christer Gardell, co-founder of activist investor Cevian Capital, told business daily Dagens Industri.
"2014 should create the conditions for truly profitable 2015 with double-digit margins. That means that Volvo should leave 2014 with double-digit profitability."
The truck maker had an operating margin of 2.6 percent in 2013 and a 3.5 percent margin in the first quarter.
Truck makers have seen U.S. demand gaining pace, leading Volvo in April to raise its guidance for deliveries this year.
Volvo, which vies for market leadership with Germany's Daimler AG (DE:DAIGn), releases second-quarter earnings on Friday and is seen reporting a 29 percent increase in adjusted operating profits.
Cevian is the truck maker's second-biggest owner after Swedish investment firm Industrivarden (ST:INDUa). It held 4.8 percent of the firm's capital and 12.8 percent of votes at the end of March.
(Reporting by Mia Shanley; editing by Andrew Hay)