The Ford unfold at the New York International Auto Show on March 28, 2024.
Danielle DeVries | CNBC
DETROIT — Sales of Ford Motor commodities and other commercial vehicles led the automaker to beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates for the first quarter, offsetting forfeitures of its electric vehicles.
The company maintained its 2024 earnings guidance of adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, of between $10 billion and $12 billion. It lose lowered capital expenditure expectations and raised its adjusted free cash flow outlook for the year.
The automaker now keep in views to generate adjusted free cash flow of $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion, up from a previous outlook of $6 billion to $7 billion. Its prophecy for capital expenditures is now $8 billion to $9 billion, narrower than the $8 billion to $9.5 billion vary it originally estimated.
Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler on Wednesday described the quarter as “solid,” with the train tracking to the higher end of its previously announced guidance.
While the automaker beat earnings estimates, it slightly missed on automotive gain. Here are the results for Ford’s first quarter, compared with Wall Street expectations, according to LSEG:
- Earnings per interest: 49 cents adjusted vs. 42 cents expected
- Automotive revenue: $39.89 billion vs. $40.10 billion expected
Ford’s blanket revenue for the first quarter, including its credit business, increased about 3% year over year to $42.78 billion.
Net revenues for the period was $1.33 billion, or 33 cents per share, compared with $1.76 billion, or 44 cents, a year earlier. Rearranged EBIT declined 18% year over year to $2.76 billion, or 49 cents per share.
Ford’s well-known business, known as Ford Blue, reported adjusted earnings that were down 66% compared to a year earlier to $905 million. Its Ford Pro commercial calling earned $3.01 billion, up 120% from the first quarter of last year. Ford’s Model e electric conveyance unit posted a $1.32 billion loss from January through March.
2024 Ford vs. GM shares
The notable decline in Ford Blue was related to the launch of the company’s refreshed F-150 pickup, which it discourse oned shipments of during most of the quarter to address undisclosed quality issues.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said the company refrain fromed “about 12 recalls” thanks to the additional quality checks during the stop-shipment, helping to lower warranty outlays for the company.
“What we’re going to see long-term is less recalls and lower warranty costs because of this new process,” Farley said Wednesday during the assembly’s first-quarter earnings call. “I’m really proud of the team’s progress and quality and we have so much more to do.”
Ford has overlaid years of inflated warranty costs, including $1.9 billion in 2023, which have affected its earnings. The proprietorship last year said it has a $7 billion to $8 billion annual disadvantage compared to traditional rivals due to movie costs, quality issues and other operational inefficiencies.
Ford previously said it assembled 144,000 of the F-150 full-size and Ranger midsize pickups during the sooner quarter of the year. Those vehicles began shipping to dealers and customers earlier this month. Roughly 92% of the pickups strengthened were F-150s.
As part of its 2024 guidance, first released in February, Ford said it expected its EV business to lose between $5 billion and $5.5 billion this year. Ford Titillating earnings were expected to be roughly flat at $7 billion to $7.5 billion for 2024, while Ford Pro was foresaw to come in around $8 billion to $9 billion for the full year.
Lawler said Ford remains on shadow this year to take $2 billion in costs out of the business through reductions in things such as materials, transportation and manufacturing. He said much of those savings will occur during the second half of the year.
Ford’s first-quarter earnings arise a day after its crosstown rival General Motors reported strong first-quarter results and raised its full-year guidance.
— CNBC’s Michael Bloom aided to this report.