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DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Co on Wednesday posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on strong U.S. demand for pickups and SUVs, and forecast a full-year pretax profit instead of a loss, sending shares up nearly 6% in after-hours trading.
Ford reported net income in the third quarter of $2.4 billion, or 60 cents a share, compared with $400 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, Ford’s profit was $3.6 billion, or 65 cents a share, topping the 19 cents analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected.
The company said it anticipates better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings before interest and taxes of between break-even and a $500 million loss, as well as “positive full-year 2020 adjusted EBIT.”
Ford said in July that it expected a pretax profit of between $500 million and $1.5 billion in the third quarter and a loss for the fourth quarter as well as for the full year.
The automaker fully repaid $15 billion in revolving credit loans and ended the quarter with nearly $30 billion in cash and more than $45 billion of liquidity.
The company’s adjusted EBIT margin in the quarter was 9.7%, with a full-year target of 8%. Ford’s net margin in the period was 6.4%.
Earlier on Wednesday, Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler reported that its operating profit rose 26% to a record 2.544 billion euros in North America, with a record 13.8% margin.
Ford said fourth-quarter launches of key new products – a redesigned F-150 pickup, the Mustang Mach-E SUV and Bronco Sport SUV – remain “on track.”
Ford shares were up 5.7% at $8.15 in extended trading.
“We saw much higher demand than we expected,” Chief Financial Officer John Lawler told reporters on a conference call. “We also saw higher net pricing, particularly in North America.”
