The No. 2 US automaker is in the midst of an $11 billion restructuring.On Wednesday, Ford posted a lower quarterly profit as it took charges for its global restructuring, and reduced its full-year operating profit forecast due to higher warranty and incentive costs, as well as lower-than-expected sales in China.
Excluding one-time charges, Ford earned 34 cents a share, above the 26 cents analysts had expected according to IBES data from Refinitiv.Virtually all of Ford's third-quarter pretax profit came from North America, where highly profitable pickup trucks drive margins. Ford said on Wednesday it now expects full-year adjusted operating profit in the range of $6.5 billion to $7 billion, compared with $7 billion last year.
In an interview with Business Insider, CFO Tim Stone stressed the company strategic outlook and focus on free-cash-flow growth to go along with consistent profitability. He called the guidance downgrade both encouraging because it doesn't project a major decline in Ford's margin, but he also said its was dissatisfying because it falls below Ford's 2018 level.