Ford reports $ 1.7 billion quarterly loss, shares tumble – MarketWatch, Marketwatch.com

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Ford Motor Co. shares fell as much as 13% in the extended session Tuesday after the US auto maker missed adjusted profit expectations and posted a GAAP loss for its fourth quarter.

Ford                                                                                                                                                                                                                       F, 2. (%                                                                                                                                                          said it lost $ 1.7 billion, or 42 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with a loss of $ 100 million, or 3 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The GAAP loss included a previously disclosed $ 2.2 billion charge related to pensions.

Adjusted for one-time items, Ford said it gained (cents a share, compared with cents a share a year ago. Revenue fell 5% to $ 39. 7 billion from $ 39. 8 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the auto maker to report adjusted earnings of cents a share on sales of $ 6 billion. The analysts had seen a GAAP profit of 15 cents a share for the quarter.

”Financially, the company performance was short of our original expectations, mostly because of our operational execution – which we usually do very well – was nearly good good enough. We recognize, take accountability for and have made changes because of this, ”Chief Executive Jim Hackett said in a statement.

Hackett repeated the promise during a conference call with analysts following the results. “We can’t miss a beat in the product launches,” he said. “Now it’s about executing.”

Chief Financial Officer Tim Stone started his remarks saying Ford’s 2020 results “were not OK,” but the company is confident it will improve its operations and earn back investors’ trust.

Hackett said it was too early to estimate the implications of the coronavirus outbreak in China on its bottom line this year.

The company said it expected adjusted earnings between $ 5.6 billion to $ 6.6 billion for full-year 2020, assuming “nominal growth” for its automotive business offset by lower contributions from its credit arm and a “modestly higher” investment in autonomous cars.

During the call, Ford executives did not give firm numbers either, which prompted Rod Lache of Wolfe Research to say it was “challenging” for Wall Street to assess the company situation and the headwinds it would face . Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley spoke next and said “transparency really would be helpful.”

For the first quarter, Ford said it expects adjusted earnings to be down more than $ 1.1 billion from the first quarter of thanks to higher warranty costs, an ongoing issue for the company, lower vehicle volumes Plus the lower results from Ford Credit and the higher driverless-car investments.

Earlier Tuesday, Tesla Inc.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       TSLA, . (% )                                                                                                                                                          surpassed Ford as No. 1 U.S. car maker in terms of enterprise value , a metric that takes into consideration market capitalization as well as debt, cash and cash equivalents. Tesla reported fourth-quarter earnings last week.

General Motors Co.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       GM, 1. %                                                                                                                                                          is expected to report its quarterly numbers Wednesday before the bell, with analysts expecting GAAP and adjusted earnings of 1 cent a share on sales of $ 3 billion.

Ford shares have gained 6% in the past months, lagging behind advances of (% and (% for the S&P) index                                                                                                                                                                                                                       SPX, 1. (%)                                                                                                                                                          and the Dow Jones Industrial Average                                                                                                                                                                                                                       DJIA, 1. (%)                                                                                                                                                          .

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