Have you bought Ford stock lately?

Dearborn makes a profit:

Ford Motor (F) Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally has from time to time over his 19 months at the helm of the ailing automaker said he prefers to underpromise and overdeliver on results. He did just that Apr. 24, posting a $100 million profit in the first quarter, much better than the loss Wall Street expected and a nearly $400 million swing in net earnings from the same period the year before.

The results were impressive considering the recessionary climate in the U.S., which is depressing auto sales overall; high gas costs that are pushing down demand for Ford's most profitable pickup trucks and SUVs; and rising costs of commodities used to make vehicles.

Ford's automotive operations earned a pretax profit of $669 million, compared with a loss of $895 million the previous year. Its results in Europe, South America, and Asia went a long way to offset the continued losses in North America. The Volvo unit lost $151 million.

[...]

Ford expects to lose money this year on the whole, but far less than the $2.7 billion it lost in 2007. Mulally said that despite the worsening economic environment in the U.S., Ford's toughest nut to crack, he is sticking to his goal of overall profitability in 2009.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at April 24, 2008 10:08 PM