Ford’s net profit falls 37 percent

Ford Motor Co.’s net profit fell 37 percent in the third quarter as sales slowed in the U.S. and China.

The company said it made

$991 million from July through September, or 25 cents per share. Revenue was up 3 percent to $37.67 billion

Excluding one-time items, Ford said it made 29 cents per share, beating Wall Street expectations. Analysts polled by FactSet expected 28 cents per share. Revenue fell slightly short of estimates.

Investors have been calling on Ford to detail a promised $11 billion worth of cuts that were promised during the next five years as the company tries to right-size itself to better compete globally.

Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said tariffs cost the company about $1 billion during the quarter, attributing $600 million of that to commodity cost increases due to U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Another $200 million came from retaliatory tariffs imposed by China on U.S. vehicles, with the balance from the cost of canceling plans to build a small vehicle in China, the Focus Active, to be exported to the U.S.

North America remained Ford’s big profit center, where it made $2 billion before taxes, an increase of about $100 million. Shanks said that was due to selling more higher-profit SUVs and trucks and fewer low-margin cars as the market continued to shift away from sedans. So far this year, Ford’s U.S. sales are down 2.4 percent.