Ford 2Q profit surges on strong revenue, earnings per share top estimates
Ford Motor Co.'s second-quarter profit more than tripled to $1.92 billion versus a year ago on stronger sales and revenue.
Pretax losses at Model e, the company's electric vehicle unit, increased to more than $1 billion, but they were offset by strong profits in the commercial and internal combustion vehicle businesses.
Ford Blue, the internal combustion unit, made $2.3 billion before taxes, while Ford Pro made $2.39 billion on commercial vehicles.
Excluding one-time items, Ford made 72 cents per share. That beat Wall Street estimates of 54 cents. Revenue rose 12% to $44.95 billion, beating the $43.17 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet.
Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said the strong performance gave Ford the confidence to raise its guidance for full-year pretax profits. The company now expects to make $11 billion to $12 billion, up from $9 billion to $11 billion.
But Ford backed away from ambitious milestones for building electric vehicles in the future. The company had said it would build at an annual rate of 600,000 this year, but now says that won't happen until next year. Ford also scrubbed a goal of building 2 billion EVs per year by the end of 2026.
Ford's predicted losses for electric vehicles this year have ballooned to $4.5 billion, from $3 billion previously.
Lawler said the ramp up on EV production isn't going to be a straight line as the transformation from combustion engines to electricity continues. High prices and perceptions of inconvenience compared with gas vehicles will slow takeup, Lawler said.
The company continues to add factory capacity for EVs, he said.
In May, the company cut prices on its electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck by up to $10,000 on some versions. The updated base price for the Pro model, its lowest priced electric pickup, will be $49,995, down about $10,000.
CEO Jim Farley said in January the company will go to a different business model for electric vehicle sales with non-negotiable prices and remote services for customers.
He also said the company plans to introduce a new version of the F-150 pickup and a hybrid version at Detroit's auto show in September. Ford's F-Series pickups are the top selling vehicles in the U.S.