Ford misses, stock falls in after-hours trading

REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader

• Ford missed analysts’ expectations for Q2 profit.
• As with GM and FCA, which also reported Q2 earnings Wednesday, Ford lowered it full-year profit guidance.

Ford on Wednesday posted a second-quarter net profit that was down by almost half from the prior-year period, missing analyst expectations, due to a fire at a parts supplier that disrupted production of its popular pickup trucks, while falling sales and tariffs hurt the automaker’s business in China.

The No. 2 US automaker reported a second-quarter net profit of $1.07 billion, or 27 cents a share, compared with $2.05 billion, or 51 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected earnings of 31 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Ford’s best market globally was North America, where the carmaker posted a 7.4% margin, driven by sales of profitable pickup trucks and SUVs.

“This quarter we achieved solid results in North America, offset in part by unexpected challenges with our overseas operations and headwinds in the business environment,” CEO Jim Hackett said in a statement. “Despite this, our fitness actions continue to take hold and we’re clearly committed to redesigning and restructuring the underperforming parts of our business.”

Ford also said that it would spend $11 billion on “reallocating capital to opportunities with higher returns” and restructuring “with cash-related effects of $7 billion, over the next three to five years.”

The carmaker announced that it was reducing its 2018 full-year profit guidance, to an adjusted EPS range of $1.30-$1.50 per share.

Ford shares slid 5% in after hours trading, to $10. Year-to-date, the stock is down 21%.

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