Here is some background for Brian White's liveblogging of Ford's (NYSE: F) second quarter earning results:
Ford surprised the market by announcing black ink for the second quarter of 2007, with net income of $750 million, or $0.31 EPS on $44 billion revenue, which was a 6% increase over 2006 2nd quarter.
Unfortunately the increase in revenue was primarily due to currency exchange, mix and net pricing improvements -- sales volume actually was lower than 2006. The profit was due in part to cost reductions of $600 million, including the elimination of 6,400 jobs.
Backing out special items, mostly the sale of Aston Martin and deferred gains on certain hedges at Jaguar and Land Rover, and profits finished at $258 million, or $0.13 EPS. The paltry earnings won't do much to excite a market convinced that the company has taken only the first few initial steps in their climb back to economic viability.
Ford earnings posts
FeedA closer look at Ford's 2nd quarter earnings
Continue reading A closer look at Ford's 2nd quarter earnings
Liveblogging Ford Q2 earnings
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is slated to have a conference call regarding its Q2 earnings here in a few minutes. If you're ready to see the full results before the show gets underway, see this. Investors hope the results will show some strength for the world's third largest automaker on sales of its smaller Edge crossover and fleet vehicles. The automaker needs some good news to ensure its "Way Forward" plan under the helm of CEO Alan Mulally is moving forward according to plan. Did it make strides this past quarter?Ford still posted some huge quarterly losses before it begins to make gains into the land of profitability sometime in 2009, according to Mulally. Until then, the company will continue reorganizing its business and paying huge operating expenses while it sets itself up to be more flexible and in-tune to customer demands that can shift almost immediately based on housing and gas prices. Those never fluctuate, right?
The automaker lost just over $12.5 billion last year and posted a loss of $282 million during Q1 this year, so the bets are on in regards to how large Ford's loss will be this quarter. Estimates range from $0.36 to $0.73, but given the enormous scope of changes in Ford's immediate backyard at the moment, I'm not sure any crystal ball could be an accurate predictor of any upcoming Ford quarters at this point. With that, here we go. Remember to use the "Refresh" key to ensure you see the minute-by-minute updates below. All times are in EST.
Ford Q2 earnings preview
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is slated to release Q2 earnings tomorrow morning at 9 am EST. Investors hope the results will show some strength for the world's third largest automaker on sales of its smaller Edge crossover and fleet vehicles. The automaker needs some good news to ensure its "Way Forward" plan under the helm of CEO Alan Mulally is moving forward according to plan.Ford is still going to post some huge quarterly losses before beginning to make gains into the land of profitability sometime in 2009, according to Mulally. Until then, the company will continue reorganizing its business and paying huge operating expenses while it sets itself up to be more flexible and in-tune to customer demands that can shift almost immediately based on housing and gas prices. Those never fluctuate, right? Heh.
The automaker lost just over $12.5 billion last year and posted a loss of $282 million during Q1 this year, so the bets are on in regards to how large Ford's loss will be this quarter. Estimates range from $0.36 to $0.73, but given the enormous scope of changes in Ford's immediate backyard at the moment, I'm not sure any crystal ball could be an accurate predictor of any upcoming Ford quarters at this point. Stay tuned tomorrow morning to BloggingStocks, as I'll be live-blogging the automaker's Q2 conference call.



