Ford Motor Company - F

[JGixxer]

Anyone have any opinions on F as it approaches $3? Will it continue to climb? Or is it going to drop again?

[ozzfan1317]

I bought a small number of shares a little while ago I think they are the only one of the big three that might survive it doesnt improve soon. Needless to say if the other two fail better make sure the company you are holding is a strong one.

[jav992]

Ford shows it may be able to avoid federal bailout
Ford may be able to avoid federal bailout; GM and Chrysler race to meet government deadlines
Kimberly S. Johnson, AP Auto Writer
On Friday April 24, 2009, 6:36 pm EDT

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- Better-than-expected earnings from Ford raised hopes Friday that the automaker's restructuring and new products may be enough to spare it from a federal bailout, while General Motors received more government help and Chrysler raced to avoid bankruptcy.

Ford still lost $1.4 billion from January through March, but that was less than expected, and executives said the outlook for future sales was good enough to increase production of its most popular vehicles.

Ford Motor Co. has taken steps over the last few years to avoid government intervention: cutting costs, focusing on its core brands, and introducing new vehicles and advanced features.

"Ford is building the best stuff it's ever made in terms of quality rankings and critical reviews," said Aaron Bragman, an auto analyst at IHS Global Insight. "The vehicles are sufficiently improved and people are starting to realize that."

While Ford tries to go it alone, federal officials are questioning every penny spent by General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, which are both subsisting on government loans.

On Friday, the Treasury Department said it loaned $2 billion to GM, bringing the automaker's total to $15.4 billion. Chrysler has borrowed $4 billion and could get $500 million more so it can keep running while it restructures.

But Ford, under the leadership of former Boeing Corp. CEO Alan Mulally, mortgaged all of the automaker's assets -- including the trademark blue logo -- a few years ago, when loans were easier to get from the private sector.

As of March 31, Ford had $21.3 billion in cash to help it survive the worst market for U.S. auto sales in 27 years.

The company said Friday it had spent just $3.7 billion of its cash during the first three months of this year, far less than the $7.2 billion it burned in the fourth quarter of 2008. Investors sent Ford's shares up 11 percent.

"I think the important comparison for us is 'Are we improving versus the fourth quarter?'" said Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth. "Because the fourth quarter, things were really dreadful.

He said cost cuts and better pricing for its vehicles helped the company narrow its losses from $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter, and he expects continued improvement for the remainder of the year.

Ford said it was able to charge more for its vehicles, which are now coming loaded with features such as electronic blind-spot detection and technology that links drivers' cell phones and MP3 players to a voice-activated command center.

Chrysler, on the other hand, spent more on sales incentives than any other automaker, averaging about $5,000 per vehicle in March, according to Edmunds.com.

With a government-imposed deadline for massive restructuring less than a week away, Chrysler and federal officials held out hope that they could keep the automaker out of bankruptcy court, according to two people briefed on the talks.

Chrysler and the Treasury Department are preparing paperwork for bankruptcy filings -- one as a reorganization in Chapter 11 with government funding and the other as a liquidation if no government money is available, both people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the fast-moving negotiations are private.

Chrysler has until Thursday to work out a joint venture with Italian automaker Fiat SpA. GM has until June 1 to make dramatic cuts.

Ford jumped ahead of both competitors in February with a new labor agreement that saved $300 million in the first quarter. A debt-for-equity swap shed $10 billion in debt.

Ford's overall work force in North America shrank 41 percent since December 2006, when it employed 122,400 salaried and hourly workers and began restructuring.

Ford wants to trim its work force even more. Of the 72,300 employees it had in March, 51,000 were union workers who have until May 22 to accept or reject a buyout.

"We started on this transformation of Ford two to three years ago," Mulally said last week in an interview with The Associated Press. "We were very clear with the government that we believed we had sufficient liquidity to make it through this, and we were not asking them for money."

President Obama has dismissed GM and Chrysler's viability plans as overly optimistic, given the current sales climate and the company's sluggish pace of restructuring.

While not discounting Ford's problems, analysts said the company has been more aggressive in key areas where the administration found fault with GM and Chrysler.

For instance, GM was faulted for its unwieldy size, with eight different brands. Ford sold its Aston Martin, Land Rover and Jaguar lines in 2008. It also reduced its stake in Mazda and is currently looking to sell Volvo. That will let Ford focus on Ford, Lincoln and Mercury.

Chrysler was also faulted for focusing on SUVs and minivans, leaving it ill-prepared for high gas prices. Ford is rolling out a mix of fuel-efficient vehicles that have been well-received by consumers who may be concerned about the uncertainty surrounding GM and Chrysler.

Ford's midsize Fusion model is a viable competitor against Toyota Motor Corp.'s popular Camry, with the 2010 models getting praise for quality, safety and fuel economy. More than 40 percent of the 2010 Fusions sold have been hybrids that get 41 mpg on the highway.

Ford is also bringing the Fiesta, its small European car, stateside next summer, and its compact Focus is selling well.

Ford's assembly plants will be churning out more of those products in the second quarter.

One day after GM said it would temporarily close 13 North American plants for up to 11 weeks this summer to slash inventories, Ford said it expects its production to increase 19.5 percent from the first quarter.

"We believe, with the decisive actions we have taken over the last few quarters, we have the dealer stocks well in line," Mulally said. "And with what we see with the reception of the new products, we believe we can go up a little bit more to support the real demand."

Ford said it's on track to break even or turn a profit in 2011. But the company isn't squeaky clean. It still has debt, an underfunded pension plan and a primary market -- the U.S. -- where consumers are skittish about buying a new car amid mounting job losses in a recession.

Should GM or Chrysler, or even a key supplier file for bankruptcy, Ford's production is likely to be affected. Mulally said the company has met with the government's auto task force to help it "understand the importance" and "interdependencies" of the supply base.

"The health of the supply base is probably the most critical issue as the government helps GM and Chrysler restructure," he said. "I think they will continue to pay the highest priority as they restructure to the supply base to make sure it stays intact for all of us."

Associated Press auto writers Tom Krisher in Detroit and Dan Strumpf in New York contributed to this report.

[twanky25]

Ford is here to stay, i think they will be just fine in the future...GM on the other hand...hmmmm

[Technical_Indicator]

Great news on the F earnings... would be nice if F emerged from all this auto etc... on top 8)

[Technical_Indicator]

F chart trending up... looks like the company is working it's way back up

[Stock_Analyzer]

Could be a gapper tomorrow if they release better than expected number of car sales....

[jav992]

Debt reduction pushes Ford to $2.3B 2Q profit
Ford Motor Co. posts surprise $2.3B 2Q profit on debt reduction and cost cuts
By Tom Krisher and Kimberly S. Johnson, AP Auto Writers
On Thursday July 23, 2009, 8:17 pm EDT
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- Ford Motor Co.'s return to profitability last quarter won't last long unless it can boost sales of cars and trucks and continue to grab market share from rivals.

On Thursday, Ford cemented its position as the healthiest U.S.-based automaker by reporting a surprise $2.3 billion net profit in the second quarter, mainly due to $10.1 billion in debt reductions that cut annual interest payments. The nation's second-largest automaker also cut 1,000 more blue-collar jobs with buyout and early retirement offers.

From its core operations, however, Ford lost $424 million. That was still a significant improvement over the second quarter of last year when it lost $1 billion from its automotive and car financing businesses.

But being the top-performing automaker in dysfunctional Detroit doesn't mean a whole lot. Ford's U.S. competitors, Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co., both are living on government aid and had brief stays under bankruptcy court supervision.

Aaron Bragman, an analyst for the consulting firm IHS Global Insight, attributed Ford's progress to restructuring and product improvements made under CEO Alan Mulally, who was hired away from aircraft giant Boeing Co. in 2006.

Mulally kept Ford from the same fate as Chrysler and GM by mortgaging its factories and even the familiar blue oval logo to borrow $23.5 billion before the credit markets froze.

Although borrowing money has moved Ford to the head of the class, that debt could come back to haunt the company if auto sales don't make the modest comeback predicted for next year.

"The company really is not out of the woods yet," said Bragman. "There are signs of positive news, but they still have a pretty formidable challenge ahead of them."

U.S. auto sales have dropped to levels not seen for a quarter century, unemployment is high and gas prices are so volatile that consumers are struggling to decide which cars or trucks won't cost a small fortune when they fill up at the pump.

Still, Ford has managed to gain on its competitors, even as the auto sales slump pushed down revenue 30 percent to $27.2 billion. The Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands picked up two percentage points of market share to end the quarter at 16.4 percent. The automaker saw the smallest U.S. sales decline of any major automaker in June, down 14 percent from the same month last year.

Cars like the new Ford Fusion midsize sedan, with sales up 21 percent last month, helped keep the company's sales relatively healthy in a terrible market.

Also, the company's F-Series pickup trucks remain the best-selling vehicles in the country. While sales fell 11 percent in June, Ford still sold more than 102,000 of the profitable trucks from April to the end of June.

Sales in regions outside of the U.S. helped the bottom line too, with Ford reporting pretax profits in Europe and South America.

The Dearborn, Mich., company also plans to roll out new products faster than GM and Chrysler, Bragman said. A number of the new models are based on small cars from Europe, he said, so Ford could be hurt if gas prices don't rise and small car sales don't jump.

But if the product plan works, Ford says it can make money in two years with a little help from the economy. GM has said the same thing.

Ford expects to make an annual profit in 2011, but Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said Thursday that hinges on U.S. and European auto sales recovering a bit.

Ford is forecasting a 12.2 million light vehicle market for the U.S. next year, which should help its revenue problem. So far this year, though, sales have been running at an annual rate of under 10 million vehicles, far less than the 16 million sold just two years ago.

Bankruptcy protection helped GM to make even deeper expense cuts than Ford, with GM saying they are now low enough that it can break even before interest and taxes next year, and be slightly above break-even for 2011 on a pretax basis.

The company also says its expenses have been reduced to the point that it can be profitable in a U.S. auto market of 10 million to 10.5 million.

Ford, meanwhile, was able to slow its cash spending rate in the second quarter, when it spent $1 billion more than it took in. The rate is important because Ford could end up needing government aid if it can't make money before its remaining $21 billion cash cushion runs out.

The automaker has hinted that it may sell more stock to further reduce its $26 billion in debt. It will have to in order to get even or better than GM, a larger company that emerged from bankruptcy protection owing about $20 billion.

Mulally said Thursday that Ford needs market share gains, balance sheet improvements and a stronger economy to recover. But with unemployment nationwide rising to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent in June, there are fewer jobs and fewer dollars to buy new cars and trucks.

"Clearly this is still a very fragile economy," Mulally said during a conference call with reporters and analysts.

Ford's shares rose 60 cents, or 9.4 percent, to close at $6.98 on Thursday

[ozzfan1317]

This stock will eventually hit 20 dollars again in a couple of years. They have taken chunks of market share and have a great new line of products coming out.

[Technical_Indicator]