Ford beats expectations with loss
That represents a major improvement over the same period in 2006, when Ford lost $5.2 billion. Analysts had expected the company to lose about $1.17 billion before taxes for the quarter, according to a survey conducted by Bloomberg.
The company's third-quarter loss from continuing operations, excluding special items, was just a penny per share, or $24 million, compared with a loss of 45 cents per share, or $850 million, for the same three-month period a year ago. A survey of 14 analysts predicted an average loss of 47.2 cents per share. Our third quarter performance is very encouraging," said CEO Alan Mulally. "We can see our plan taking hold with significant improvement continuing in our core automotive operations. We remain committed to executing the four priorities of our plan — restructuring the business to operate profitably, accelerating the development of new products that our customers want and value, funding our plan and improving our balance sheet, and working even more effectively together as one Ford team, leveraging our global assets."
Most of Ford's gains came from its foreign operations, where a weak dollar and new products fueled a surge in revenues. However, even its North American automobile operations showed significant improvement over last year.
Ford's North American auto operations reported a pre-tax loss of $1 billion, compared with a pre-tax loss of $2.1 billion a year ago. Detroit News