Ford's third-quarter earnings beat estimates, shares go up

DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co.F.Nposted a slightly better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter on Wednesday and remained true to its targets for the year, giving investors hope for a strong fourth quarter and boosting its stock by 7% after hours.

Profits declined as high commodity costs and falling sales in China partially offset the strong demand for pickup trucks and SUVs in North America.

US automaker # 2 maintained its annual earnings forecast. Last quarter, Ford announced an ongoing restructuring that could result in pre-tax charges of up to $ 11 billion. Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said on Wednesday that the plan was still in effect.

However, the chief financial officer said that even though Ford is still committed to achieving a pre-tax global margin target of 8%, the company will not achieve this target by 2020, as previously announced.

Some investors and analysts were frustrated by the lack of details on these plans and Shanks said the company still had nothing to announce at the moment.

"Nothing has changed in terms of providing a lot of detail," Shanks said.

Ford's vehicle sales in China fell 43% in September from the previous year and 30% in the first nine months of the year. Ford blames its weakness in China for a range of aging models awaiting revision.

On Tuesday, Ford appointed a new head of operations in China, ending a nine-month search and setting up a Chinese-born American national.

The automaker said it would not see a raise in China before the launch of new SUVs in 2019 and 2020.

S addressing reporters at Ford's headquarters, chief financial officer Shanks said that vehicle sales in China across the sector would be down slightly in 2019 compared to 2018.

Shanks said Ford praised the agreement in principle reached between the US, Canada and Mexico on an updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but that the builder would also like tariffs on steel and aluminum to be dealt with under the revised treaty.

Hopefully these rates "will be eliminated and our economic rates will be more normal," said Shanks.

Last month, CEO Jim Hackett said that US steel and aluminum tariffs would cost the builder $ 1 billion in profits in 2018 and 2019.

Ford's quarterly earnings are largely driven by high-margin pickup truck sales such as the F-150 and SUVs in North America. Ford is counting more and more on the full-size F-150 pickup truck for results.

Ford reported managing a 8.8% pre-tax margin in North America in the third quarter.

US automaker No. 2 reported net income of $ 993 million in the third quarter, or 25 cents a share, down 36 percent from $ 1.6 billion, or 39 cents a share, in the third quarter. corresponding quarter.

Excluding non-recurring items, Ford gained 29 cents a share in the quarter, 1 cent higher than the average analyst estimate, according to Refinitiv.

Revenues for the quarter reached $ 37.7 billion, up from $ 36.5 billion a year earlier.

The company said it still expected full-year earnings per share of between $ 1.30 and $ 1.50, after gaining 95 cents per share in the first three quarters of the year.

Ford's shares rose 7% after closing.

They had closed at a minimum of 9 years Wednesday of $ 8.18. The last time the stock reached this level, the industry was plagued by the Great Recession and its American rivals, General Motors Co (GM.N) and Chrysler, which is now part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCHA.MI) had just come out of bankruptcies led by the government.