This was supposed to be a picture of the famous blue Ford logo, not Willa Ford, but oh well. It's not completely unrelated though. Willa Ford is married to hockey player Mike Modano, who is from the suburbs of Detroit.
Anyway, yesterday was a big day for Ford. It announced a surprise profit of $100 million, while Wall Street was expecting about a $400 million loss. The stock jumped about 12%. Well on the surface a profit, when they hadn't made one since Q2 of last year, sounds like great news. As with any earnings release, you need to look beyond the raw numbers.
When you do, you notice that Ford operations in Europe and Latin America led the way. This no doubt has been helped by strong currencies in those regions and the weak dollar. North America continues to be s sore spot for the automaker. This morning, JPM and Bear Stearns have downgraded them F saying that the shares, which are up 25% YTD, are at fair value.
Wisely, CEO Alan Mulally has warned that 2008 will remain a challenging year, as U.S. auto sales are soft, especially those of high margin SUVs and trucks.
While Mulally's "Way Forward" has produced significant results, the company still faces major headwinds in the form of a U.S. and possibly, worldwide recession or economic slowdown, increased steel prices, increased oil prices, and a difficult credit environment.
1 comment:
To the owner of this blog, how far youve come?
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