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Business Title: Ford Beats Expectations With $2.6B Profit In 2nd Quarter; Highest Gain In 6 Years (Detroit Free Press)- Ford reported a second quarter profit of $2.6 billion today, marking the automaker's best quarterly performance in six years and easily beating Wall Street expectations. The net income is 15% higher than the company's profit for the same three months last year when it reported a net income of $2.3 billion that was aided by one time gains from a debt exchange. Before one-time adjustments, Ford reported earnings per share of 68 cents, or $2.7 billion for the three months ending June 30. Analysts, on average, expected a quarterly profit of 41 cents a share from based on 12 estimates collected by Bloomberg News. For the same period last year Ford had an operating loss of $638 million, or 21 cents a share, a year earlier, excluding a gain from debt reductions. Ford said its revenue for the second quarter increased to $31.1 million, up from $26.8 million for the same period last year. "We delivered a very strong second quarter and first half of 2010 and are ahead of where we thought we would be despite the still-challenging business conditions," Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement. "Our progress is being led by the strength of our new products and our leaner global structure." The Dearborn automaker said its North American division, the company's largest operating unit, earned a pre-tax operating profit of $1.9 billion compared with a loss of $899 million for the same period a year ago. The company finished the second quarter with $21.9 billion in cash, a decrease of $3.4 billion since March 31. Ford's used some of its cash during the third quarter to reduce its debt by $7 billion down to $27.3 billion. Ford now has earned a profit of $4.7 billion for the first half of the year, up from $834 million for the first six months of last year. Ford CFO Lewis Booth said Ford continued to see gains in the average transaction prices of its cars and trucks during the second quarter. According to Edmunds.com, Ford's second quarter average transaction prices increased 7% to $30,322 in the U.S. "Ford continues to outpace its competitors due to the company's fresh product lineup," Joseph Amaturo, an analyst for Buckingham Research Group, said in a July 13 research note. But while Ford said it remains on track to deliver solid profits for the year, it also said its profits for the second half of the year will be lower than the first half of the year. The company plans to produce 1.3 million cars and trucks during the third quarter, which is 126,000 more than last year but 174,000 lower than it made over the last three months. Ford also said lower production volumes, planned summer plant shutdowns, costs related to product launches and raw material costs will impact earnings over the next six months. Ford is launching the 2011 Ford Explorer this year and plans to begin production of the 2012 Ford Focus. "We are building this business on great products and the second half has a slew of great products," Booth told reporters this morning. Booth also said Ford's profits will be hit by an anticipated $1 billion increase in raw material costs during the second half of this year. Ford also cut its industry forecast by a half million cars and trucks in the U.S. Previously, Ford said it expected U.S. industry sales to range between 11.5 million and 12.5 million cars and trucks. Now, Ford expects 2010 industry sales will range between 11.5 million and 12 million. "We are in a period of slow recovery, but we think it is sustainable," Booth said. For 2011, Ford said it expects continued improvement and said its profits will exceed 2010 results. "We think 2010 is going to be a really great year," Booth said. "And we expect next year, based on our planning assumptions, to be even better."
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Gee, the privately owned corporation is doing better then the Federally owned ones....who would have guessed....
Obama's first all-by-his-lonesome budget, btw, calls for a $1.17 trillion deficit.
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