Ford Earnings: Pro Continues to Impress While EV Costs Are Contained

Ford’s stock rose over 2% in April 24 after-hours trading after reporting adjusted first-quarter diluted earnings per share of $0.49, down 22.2% year over year but beating the $0.42 LSEG consensus. Ford raised its free cash flow guidance to a midpoint of $7 billion versus $6.5 billion previously on lower capital expenditure as it delays electric vehicle capacity increases. Management kept full-year total company adjusted EBIT guidance of $10 billion-$12 billion but said results are tracking to the higher end of that range—which is a considerable improvement from 2023’s $10.4 billion, but still down slightly excluding the $1.7 billion UAW strike impact. Segment level guidance is unchanged and Ford still expects to lower costs by $2 billion on less spending in freight, materials, and engineering. We keep our fair value estimate.