Ford reports solid profit

Ford today said it earned $2.08 billion, or 50 cents per share, during the first quarter of the year, providing more evidence that the Dearborn automaker’s turnaround plan is on track.
Ford’s profit also eclipsed its loss of $1.43 billion, or 60 cents per share, for the same January through March period last year.

Ford also easily beat Wall Street’s expectations. Before special charges, Ford earned $1.76 billion, or 46 cents per share.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson One Analytics expected Ford to report income, excluding special charges, of 31 cents per share, or nearly $1 billion.

Revenue during the first quarter increased by $3.7 billion to $28.1 billion as industry sales increased in the U.S., Europe, South America and Asia. The automaker’s resurgence is due, in part, to new products such as the Ford Fusion and Ford Taurus in the U.S. and the Ford Fiesta in Europe and Asia.

Ford CFO Lewis Booth said it was Ford’s best quarterly performance in six years and said Ford now expects the company will be “solidly profitable" this year. Until now, Ford had only said it expected to report a profit in 2010.