Ford's 1Q Net Income Slightly Lower Than Expectations, $924M

DEARBORN (WWJ) - Ford earned $924 million in the first quarter. The earnings, 23 cents a share, are slightly off of analysts projections of 26 cents a share.

"The first quarter was a good start to a year in which our results will grow progressively stronger," said Ford CEO Mark Fields.

Ford again made most of its money in North America, earning $1.34 billion, off from the $1.5 billion they made in their home market last year. Much of this is due to the launch of the F-150, which restricted sales of the company's most profitable product.

Ford, however, says the launch is going well enough that they are increasing their profit expectations in North America for the full year. But instability in South America is causing them to reduce expectations there.

So, for the full year, Ford still expects pre-tax earnings between $8.5 and $9.5 billion, with stronger auto performance than last year.

Ford lost $189 billion in South America in the first quarter, and lost $185 billion in Europe. The European performance was an improvement over last year. South America was not as good.

Ford earned $79 million in the Middle East and Africa and $103 million in Asia.

The company expects to see profits improve in the second quarter, and grow even more in the third and fourth quarter as new products come into the marketplace.

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