Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) topped Wall Street expectations for the third quarter on stronger-than-expected sales.
Ford reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 65 cents compared to 19 cents EPS that analysts had expected. Revenue for the quarter came in at $34.71 billion U.S. versus $33.51 billion U.S. that had been expected.
Ford’s stock jumped more than 7% during after-hours trading Wednesday before leveling off at about $8.05 a share, up 4.5%.
In his first quarterly earnings call with analysts, newly installed Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley, who took over the helm of the automaker on October 1, promised Wall Street greater transparency.
Ford more than doubled its adjusted pre-tax earnings from a year earlier to $3.6 billion U.S. in the third quarter. The company’s net profit was $2.34 billion U.S. during the third quarter, up from roughly $423 million a year earlier.
Ford’s profits in the third quarter were led by its operations in North America, which made $3.18 billion U.S. on revenue of $25.3 billion U.S. That included stronger-than-expected demand and a rich mix for popular Ford trucks and SUVs as well as commercial vehicles.
Due to costs related to new or redesigned vehicle launches toward the end of the year, the company forecast adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter to be between break even and a $500 million U.S. loss. That would keep the company in the black for the year.
Ford expects a 100,000-unit reduction in wholesale shipments of its profitable F-150 pickups in the fourth quarter as the company steadily ramps up production of a redesigned version of the truck.
Ford ended the third quarter with cash of nearly $30 billion U.S. and total liquidity of more than $45 billion U.S. after fully repaying $15 billion U.S. in revolving credit drawn down in the first quarter in the early days of the pandemic.
