Ford Motor surpassed Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings estimates but slashed its full-year financial forecast, citing production disruptions for its profitable large trucks and SUVs caused by a fire at a key supplier’s facility.
The fire, which occurred last month at a Novelis aluminum plant in New York, is projected to cost the automaker between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. Ford expects to mitigate much of the financial impact, reducing the net cost to under $1 billion by next year. To recover lost output, the company plans to add 1,000 workers to its Michigan and Kentucky truck plants and aims to recoup 50,000 units of production in 2026.
Despite the future headwinds, Ford’s third-quarter performance was strong. The company’s total revenue reached a quarterly record of $50.5 billion, a 9% increase from the prior year, while net income surged to $2.4 billion from $900 million a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were 45 cents per share on automotive revenue of $47.19 billion, handily beating analysts’ expectations of 36 cents per share and $43.08 billion in revenue.
As a result of the supply disruption, Ford now projects its 2025 adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to be between $6 billion and $6.5 billion, down from a previous range of $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion. Adjusted free cash flow guidance was also lowered to a range of $2 billion to $3 billion. Chief Financial Officer Sherry House noted that without the supplier fire, the company had been on track to raise its adjusted EBIT forecast to over $8 billion.
Partially offsetting these challenges, Ford anticipates a smaller financial impact from tariffs. The company has lowered its expected tariff costs for the year by $1 billion to approximately $2 billion, citing recent changes by the Trump administration.
The company’s performance continues to be driven by its Ford Pro commercial division, which reported an EBIT of nearly $2 billion. The traditional Ford Blue internal combustion business earned $1.54 billion, while the Model e electric vehicle unit saw its losses widen to $1.41 billion. The results reflect progress in the “Ford+” turnaround plan, with the company remaining on track to achieve $1 billion in cost savings this year.
Ford’s stock initially fell about 4% in after-hours trading following the announcement before recovering. Shares closed Thursday at $12.34 and are up 24% year-to-date.
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