Ford posts profits while Government Motors and Chrysler ?????

jimpeel

jimpeel

Well-Known Member
It seems that the "experts" were wrong again. The American people will flee from government run companies to the private sector in droves.

SOURCE

Ford Reports Surprise $1 Billion 3Q Profit

Monday, November 02, 2009

AP

DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford, the only Detroit automaker to dodge direct government aid and bankruptcy court, surprised investors with net income of nearly $1 billion in the third quarter and forecast a "solidly profitable" 2011.

The automaker said Monday earnings were fueled by U.S. market share gains, cost cuts and the Cash for Clunkers program, which drew flocks of buyers to showrooms this summer. Ford's stock rose 40 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $7.40 in pre-market trading.

The latest results signal that Ford's turnaround is on more solid ground. The company lost more than $14.6 billion last year and hasn't posted a full-year profit since 2005. While it made a profit in the second quarter, that was mainly due to debt reductions that cut its interest payments.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford reported third-quarter net income of $997 million, or 29 cents per share. Ford also forecast a "solidly profitable" 2011. Previously the automaker said it would be break-even or better.

Its key North American car and truck division posted a pretax profit of $357 million, the company's first quarter in the black since early 2005. Ford cited higher pricing, lower material costs and increased market share for the improvement.

Excluding one-time items, Ford earned 26 cents per share, blowing away analysts' expectations of a loss of 12 cents.

The earnings came despite an $800 million revenue drop. But Ford said it cut costs by $1 billion during the quarter, accomplished through layoffs in North America and Europe, reduced pension and retiree health care costs and improvements in productivity and product development.

Chief financial officer Lewis Booth said the company took in $1.3 billion more than it spent in the quarter, an improvement over its $1 billion cash burn in the second quarter.

"That's a huge deal," Booth said.

Ford's plan to create demand and get better prices for its products, coupled with cost cuts, gives the company confidence that it will make money in 2011, Booth said.

But Ford still faces obstacles in its turnaround. Last week, workers overwhelmingly rejected an agreement with the United Auto Workers that would have brought Ford's labor costs in line with rivals General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Workers objected to clauses limiting their right to strike and freezing entry-level wages, and felt the company was healthy enough and didn't need further concessions.

Ford also has $26.9 billion in debt, up $800 million from the second quarter.

Ford didn't quantify the impact of Cash for Clunkers, which offered buyers rebates to trade in their vehicles. The program helped Ford cut costly incentives and raise production. It also won buyers; the Ford Focus and Ford Escape were among the top five sellers in the program. Ford sales were up 17 percent in August thanks to the program.

Ford's revenue fell $800 million for the quarter, to $30.9 billion, due mainly to its financial services arm, Ford Motor Credit, making fewer loans.

But the division still posted a pretax profit of $677 million, and revenue from auto operations rose slightly to $27.9 billion.

Ford also has benefited from consumer goodwill after it declined government bailout money and didn't go into bankruptcy over the summer as GM and Chrysler did. Ford grabbed sales from its rivals, posting the largest increase in market share of any automaker in September. Ford expects an overall gain in U.S. market share in 2009, a feat it hasn't accomplished since 1995.
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this doesn't mean anything other than ford was less of a mess to begin with jim.

there is no platform here for ideological grandstanding against horrible, horrible, big government.

now, those government experts won't do anything better than the other jerks that ran GM and chrysler, not for the reasons you'd offer, but rather due to a business culture that turns everything vanilla.
 
no this means ford was in the tank with gov. to start with.

Naturally they are going to look good. They won.
Obama gave it to them, after getting what He wanted. Payback time.

You do have to keep some places/people happy, if you want to stay in power.
 
but has ford recieved any breaks, moneys, or other favors, for the favors/lobbying, that They did for the admin?

I think so.
 
how can I show you a question, and a theory, other than what I posted there?

If the transparency was there like obama said...maybe I could say definitively.
 
right, so now we're back in freemason territory.

every big business has lobbyists.

maybe that blue oval just looks a little suspicious to you?

fordlogo2003.jpg
 
as far as the logo
I like it a lot.
Was given permission to use it at one time, and embroidered it on many racing uniforms.:thumbup:

although, even if I felt like I owed the Ford corp. some kind of gratitude,
I'd still call them out on wrong doing.
Few get my loyalty.
 
dang it mr.b, you aren't helping the paranoia :p

I guess that, along with the way they pulled out of the bailout at the last opportunity,
helps make the case more for my theory though.:nerd:
 
Nah..I just think that Ford execs acted pretty lecherously - including fuckin' over their retired employees..and their bad behaviour was brushed under the carpet because they didn't take the GVT money.

The 'people' have a short attention span for these things...and they're looking the other way, so Ford can get away with getting help from foreign GVTs without any of the 'people' batting an eye.
 
wow, so ford must have done something bad huh?

cutting expenses to rectify bad financial performance... who would ever think to do that?
 
you mean like when henry went all crazy and the company was being run by harry bennett? you mean in the wacky union-busting days of the ford sociology department?
 
2minkey said:
wow, so ford must have done something bad huh?

cutting expenses to rectify bad financial performance... who would ever think to do that?
Click to expand...

Cutting overhead by slashing salaries is one thing..cutting pensions is quite another.
 
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