DETROIT — The Ford Motor Company reported its fourth consecutive quarterly profit in Tuesday and said higher sales produced its largest pretax operating profit in six years. þþFord said it earned a net profit of $2.1 billion, or 50 cents a share, and that it expected “solid profits” and positive cash flow from its automotive operations for 2010, a year sooner than it had previously forecast. In the quarter a year ago, Ford lost $1.4 billion, or 60 cents a share. þþ“The Ford team around the world achieved another very solid quarter, and we are delivering profitable growth,” the chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, said in a statement. “Our plan is working, and the basic engine that drives our business results — products, market share, revenue and cost structure — is performing stronger each quarter, even as the economy and vehicle demand remain relatively soft.” þþRevenue increased to $28.1 billion in the first quarter of 2009, during the heart of the recession. þþFord, the only one of the three Detroit automakers to avoid seeking bankruptcy protection last year, has earned a profit in four consecutive quarters for the first time since 2005. The total profit for that 12-month period was $3.4 billion. þþFord also continued a trend of surpassing expectations on Wall Street, where analysts had projected a first-quarter profit of 31 cents a share, excluding one-time items. On that basis, Ford’s profit was 46 cents a share, or $2 billion. þþThe company earned $1.2 billion from its automotive operations, compared with a loss of $2 billion in the first quarter a year ago. It earned $1.2 billion in North America, compared with a $665 million loss a year ago. þþThe profits are in large part a result of the new products Ford has been bringing to its dealers’ showrooms, including the revamped Taurus sedan whose sales in the United States were 96 percent higher than its predecessor in the first quarter. þþLater this year, it is introducing new subcompact and compact models, the Fiesta and Focus, which it hopes will capture a larger share of the fast-growing market for small cars. New versions of the Edge crossover and the Explorer sport utility vehicle — which will become a more fuel-efficient crossover — will also arrive in the months ahead. þþAnalysts say Ford undoubtedly was helped by Toyota recalling more than nine million vehicles since November, causing some shoppers to look at brands they might not have bought or even considered otherwise. þþFord has also seen its image improve since General Motors and Chrysler began borrowing billions of dollars from the federal government. But Ford’s executive chairman, William Clay Ford Jr., said the company’s momentum was mostly attributable to its own efforts rather than to problems its competitors have suffered. þþ“I don’t know how much it really helped because it’s all about the product,” Mr. Ford told reporters after a speech in Detroit this month. “People will come into our showrooms but if they don’t see anything they like, they’ll go elsewhere.” þþFord’s share of the United States market rose to 17.4 percent in the first quarter from 14.7 percent a year earlier, the largest gain in 33 years. It outsold G.M. in February, something that had not happened in more than 50 years, aside from several months in 1998 when G.M. workers were on strike. þþShares of Ford have nearly tripled in the past year, to more than $14 a share. þþGeneral Motors plans to report its first-quarter earnings in May. G.M. executives have said they think a profit is possible this year, and the company paid off the remaining balance on its $6.7 billion loan from the federal government last week. þþChrysler last week said it lost $197 million in the first quarter but that its operations were on pace to break even this year. þ
Source: NY Times
