Profit plunge for Ford partly caused by high spend on top-end car model
Ford may be going too big with its $4.5bn investment in electric cars and overestimating how quickly the market will shift to self-driving vehicles, Morgan Stanley says
Ford posted third-quarter profit that fell more than half, buffeted by a slowing US market and higher spending for its premier pick-up truck model. Net income dropped to $957m from $2.19bn a year earlier, Ford said in a statement on Thursday. The decline, while substantial, was less than analysts predicted as the vehicle maker reduced some marketing costs. Profit excluding some items was 26c a share, compared with the 20c average projection of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The profit plunge came in a rare quarter when Ford had negative cash flow of $2bn. It was spending a lot on its aluminium-bodied Super Duty pick-up, and to transform itself into a mobility company that could take on interlopers such as Uber and Google. The company has said profit would fall this year and next, and investors pushed Ford shares down 16% this year. The stock fell 2.2% to $11.62 at 9.45am on Thursday in New York. "We’re going to stay real focused on putting out a great product, running a responsible...
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