Ford Motor Co. shares rose nearly 3% in the extended session Thursday after the automaker posted profit that was about three times higher that last year’s and a 12% increase in its quarterly revenue, moving it to raise its outlook for 2023.
Ford
F,
earned $1.9 billion, or 47 cents a share, in the second quarter, nearly three times higher than in the year-ago period and a 4% margin, the company said. Adjusted for one-time items, the automaker earned 72 cents a share.
Revenue rose 12% to $45 billion, Ford said, and its cash and liquidity are “persistently strong.” The revenue increase included a 39% rise for Ford’s EV business.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected Ford to report adjusted earnings of 54 cents a share on sales of $43.17 billion.
Ford lifted its EBIT guidance range for the full year to between $11 billion and $12 billion. It also adjusted upward its expectations for 2023 adjusted free cash flow to between $6.5 billion and $7 billion. Capital expenditures would be between $8 billion and $9 billion, the automaker said.
The guidance presumes “headwinds” including “global economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures, higher industrywide customer incentives and continued EV pricing pressure,” Ford said, as well as increased warranty costs and costs associated with union contract negotiations.
On the positive side, “tailwinds” accounted for in the guidance included “improved” supply chain, higher industry volumes, upside from the its all-new Ford Super Duty truck and lower commodity costs, Ford said.
Ford earlier this month surprised Wall Street by cutting the price of its sought-after electric pickup truck, the F-150 Lightning.
Ford earnings close the cycle for major U.S. automakers, as Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
reported second-quarter earnings last week and General Motors Co.
GM,
earlier this week.
Shares of Ford have gained 19% so far this year, matching the advance for the S&P 500 index
SPX,
The stock holds an outperformance, however, in the past three months, up 19% to the S&P’s 11%.
See also: GM, Hyundai and other car manufacturers to build 30,000 fast EV chargers in challenge to Tesla
This post was originally published on Market Watch
