Despite loss, Ford beats Wall Street expectations

The automaker has posted a small profit through three quarters.

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford Motor Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $380 million on Thursday, a vast improvement over its $5.2 billion loss a year earlier.

Although the performance was worse than its second-quarter profit of $750 million, Ford still was in the black for the year and its executives said a turnaround plan is taking hold.

The second-biggest U.S-based automaker also said it is near a deal to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover units but its CEO said there are no plans to sell its Volvo business.

The latest results beat Wall Street expectationsv, and its shares edged up 6 cents to $8.30 in midday trading.

The net loss amounted to 19 cents per share for the July-September period in contrast to a loss of $2.79 per share in the third quarter of last year.

Much of the loss was attributed to $350 million in special items, including an offer to exchange preferred securities for common stock and personnel reduction costs in Europe and with its Premier Automotive Group, which includes Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo.

The automaker also reported a $1 billion pretax loss on its home turf, North America, but that was an improvement over the $2.1 billion it lost in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose to $41.1 billion from $37.1 billion a year earlier.

Ford said it expects to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover units early next year, and President and Chief Executive Alan Mulally said it plans to keep Volvo for now, fixing its cost structure and making it a more premium brand. The automaker said it would start disclosing Volvo results separately starting in 2008.

Without special items, the company lost $24 million, or 1 cent per share, for the quarter. That far surpassed Wall Street’s expectations. Fifteen analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to lose 46 cents per share excluding special items.

Ford reported a net profit of $88 million for the first nine months of the year, or 5 cents per share. That’s more than a $7 billion improvement from the same period last year when the company lost $6.99 billion, or $3.73 per share.

“We are on track to achieve our goal of profitability in 2009,” Mulally said in a conference call with reporters and industry analysts.

Ford said it has shed 33,600 hourly workers and 10,600 salaried workers since the end of 2005 as part of its restructuring plan. The reductions include factories in a holding company awaiting sale or closure and came mainly from buyouts and early retirement offers.

The company now has 59,700 hourly workers in North America and an additional 6,200 employed by the holding company. Mulally said Ford will continue to reduce its employment, but he would not say if further buyouts or layoffs are planned.