Ford shares soar after surprise profit

Posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 1:57 PM EST.

Ford Motor Co surprised Wall Street with a quarterly profit on Monday and raised its 2011 outlook to “solidly profitable,” sending its shares up 5.7 percent in premarket trading, Reuters reported.

Ford, the only large U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy in 2009, said the third-quarter results were supported by cost-cuts, improved credit results and increased market share in North America and other key areas, the news service said. Ford burned through $4.7 billion of cash in the first half of 2009, but reported $1.3 billion of positive cash flow in the third quarter—its first positive cash flow since the second quarter of 2007, Reuters said. Ford said it expects positive cash flow in the fourth quarter as well, the article noted.

The company also reported its first quarterly operating profit in its key home market of North America since the first quarter of 2005, the news service said. Ford, which raised its 2011 outlook from a previous forecast for at least break-even, said it was confident the global economy would be improving by 2011. But it said the near-term growth outlook “remains rather uncertain,” the story said. (Reuters)

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