Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) would release its preliminary 2013 third quarter results at 7 a.m. (EDT) on Oct. 24. Alan Mulally, Ford president and chief executive officer, and Bob Shanks, Ford executive vice president and chief financial officer will host a conference call on the same day at 9 a.m. (EDT) to discuss quarterly results.
Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford is one of the world's largest auto manufacturer offering cars, trucks, and other vehicles primarily under the Ford and Lincoln brands.
Wall Street expects the automaker to earn 37 cents a share, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The consensus view implies a drop of 7.5 percent from last year's earnings of 40 cents.
Ford may like to continue with its positive earnings momentum as it has surpassed Street estimates in all of the past four quarters, with upside surprise ranging from 10.8 percent to 33.3 percent.
Analysts have become more bullish over Ford's earnings in recent times, with the consensus view improving by 3 cents over the past 90 days. Four analysts have raised their earnings estimate in the last month.
Quarterly revenue is expected to rise 13 percent to $34.18 billion from $30.25 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.
Ford had a strong quarter in terms of auto and truck sales, and even reported record Ford F-150 truck sales, in August and September 2013. In U.S., the F-Series keeps delivering as it recorded its fifth-straight month surpassing the 60,000-vehicle mark and continuing as one of America's best-selling vehicles. North American sales, pre-tax profits and margins should be a focus for investors.
Ford's progress in consolidating vehicles onto global platforms would improve profitability across the company's vehicle mix, and it has maintained good traction with customers in the important North America market.
Meanwhile, investors will keep a keen eye on European performance as the company lost over $1.7 billion in Europe last year, triggering a massiv! e restructuring by CEO Alan Mulally last fall.
Now, those restructuring moves have started to bear fruit as Ford is showing improvement in European sales volumes, driven by strong demand for the new B-MAX, Kuga and Transit Custom. Ford also confirmed that it is significantly accelerating the number of new vehicle introductions in Europe, where it reported a retail share of 8.4 percent in the second quarter.
The Ford's restructuring efforts and recent gains in retail market share suggests that region could return to eventual profitability.
Also, China have started contributing to sales and profits as Fords new offerings in the country have been doing very well, and its Fusion (called Mondeo) sold about 9000 units in the first full month.
Among the key developments in the quarter, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its issuer credit ratings on Ford to 'BBB-' from 'BB+', and revised the outlook to stable from positive.
The market could look at how Ford expects to perform in the remaining part of the year, eyeing its guidance for 2013. In July, Ford said it expects 2013 total company pre-tax profit to be equal to or higher than 2012, Automotive operating margin to be about equal to 2012. In 2012, the company had a pre-tax profit of $8 billion and automotive operating margin of 5.3 percent.
For the second quarter, Ford's net earnings attributable to the company rose to $1.23 billion or 30 cents a share from $1.04 billion or 26 cents a share in the year-ago period. Excluding special- items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were 45 cents a share, topping the Street view of 37 cents.
Revenues for the quarter grew 14 percent to $38.1 billion from $33.3 billion in the prior-year quarter. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $35.24 billion.
Since reporting its second quarter earnings, shares of Ford have gained only 1 percent, but rose 33 percent year-to-date. The stock, which trades about 10 times its forward, traded between $9.97 and $17.77 duri! ng the pa! st 52-weeks.
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