F-Series sales, cost cuts help Ford exceed forecast

Ford just boosted earnings the old-fashioned way — strong sales of lucrative pickups and cost cuts.

Adjusted profit for the three months ended in September exceeded the highest analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey as sales of F-Series pickups surged 14 percent, the truck line’s best third quarter in a dozen years. Ford said annual earnings will be at the high end of the range it forecast earlier this year.

Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett is now trying to leverage moneymakers like the F-Series to accelerate investments in models that don’t offer an immediate payback — self-driving cars and electric vehicles. Investors remained skeptical after Hackett laid out a plan this month to improve the company’s “fitness” by slashing expenses by $14 billion while pushing into new forms of mobility to take on the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s driverless car unit Waymo.

Demand for Ford’s breadand-butter models helped lift net income to about $1.6 billion, up from $957 million a year ago, when the company was spending to launch an aluminum-bodied version of its biggest pickups.

Adjusted profit jumped to 43 cents a share in the third quarter. Earnings this year will be in the range of $1.75 to $1.85 per share, the company said, boosting the low end of its forecast.

“F-Series always plays an important role for the company — that’s one of our precious franchises,” Bob Shanks, Ford’s chief financial officer, told reporters Thursday at the company’s headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.

Ford stock had slipped 2.4 percent through Wednesday’s close since Hackett’s Oct. 3 manifesto.

The sagging share price has stood in stark contrast to General Motors Co., whose stock closed at a record Tuesday after reporting better-than-expected earnings. Investors are embracing GM’s plan for electric and autonomous cars while appreciating the tidy profits sport utility vehicles such as the Chevrolet Equinox are hauling in.

“Ford is definitely behind in electric vehicles and flexible mobility,” said David Kudla, chief executive officer of Mainstay Capital Management, whose funds own both GM and Ford shares. “Not only is GM articulating a strategy in all of these areas, they are putting the pieces in place. With Ford, we’re still waiting to see the pieces.”