WRAP: Ford beats Q1 earnings estimates on strong North American sales
Updated Mon 4/17/2000 11:53 EDT
By Georg Szalai, Bridge News New York--April 17--Ford Motor Co., the world's No. 2 automaker, said Monday that its first-quarter profit rose by 16%, boosted by strong sales in its key North American market, especially of high-margin luxury vehicles. Ford said it earned $2.08 billion, or $1.70 per share, in the quarter, compared with operating earnings of $1.81 billion, or $1.46 per share, a year earlier. Sales rose 14% to $42.89 billion. The results topped the average Wall Street estimate of $1.58 per share by a wide margin. The highest analyst estimate for the quarter was $1.65 per share. Ford said its vehicle sales in the United States hit a first-quarter record of 1.2 million units, driven by demand for its Explorer sports-utility vehicles, F-Series pick-up trucks and luxury car models such as the Jaguar S-Type. Ford said its worldwide unit sales of sales for luxury vehicles, which produce high profit margins, jumped by 50% for the quarter, reaching a record 190,000. "Our earnings momentum is as strong as ever," said Jacques A. Nasser, Ford president and chief executive officer. Ford chief financial officer Henry Wallace said the automaker expects to meet analysts earnings forecasts for the next three quarters, although it expects the U.S. market to "cool off a bit" in the second quarter due in part to rising interest rates. Ford said it earned a record $1.7 billion in the North America in the first quarter, excluding the Visteon Automotive Systems unit that the company plans to spin off later this year, up 21% from a year earlier. Outside North America, Ford said it sold 602,000 vehicles, up from 554,000 a year earlier, although it posted a loss for its non-North American operations of $115 million, about the same as a year earlier. Wallace said Ford was able to narrow its losses in Europe and Latin America in the quarter but its performance in Asia was weaker, due in part to the dollar's exchange rate against the Japanese yen and a weaker performance of its 33%-owned Mazda Motor Corp. unit. Ford Credit, the company's financial services arm and the top auto-finance company in the U.S., earned $353 million in the first quarter, up 18% from the $300 million it recorded a year earlier. Investors welcomed Ford's results, as the shares jumped $4.625, or 8.85%, to $56.875 in midday trade on the New York Stock Exchange. End [slug: FORD-EARNS] [symbols:US;F:US;x..]
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