Ford Motor Co. stocks skyrocketed in early trade on the stock market today following their robust 2024 economic outlook late Tuesday. The automaker reported far stronger-than-hoped earnings for a fourth quarter which had been marred by an autoworkers’ strike. Although Ford had suffered from a United Auto Workers strike against several auto giants in October, the company withstood this challenge and defied predictions to bring in nearly double the expected earnings for the quarter.
With earnings of 29 cents per share, reflecting a 43% decline and the first decline in five quarters, far above the anticipated 12 cents, Ford has bounced back with a revenue of $46 billion, a 4% increase and also surpassing the estimated values. Despite a substantial loss of $1.57 billion during the fourth quarter from their all-electric vehicle unit, Ford Pro, the commercial vehicle unit, showed promising results with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $1.811 billion. The automaker also declared regular and supplemental dividends of 15 and 18 cents per share, respectively, for the first quarter.
Urged on by their promising fourth-quarter results, Ford issued a bullish full-year 2024 adjusted EBIT outlook of $10 billion-$12 billion, overshooting FactSet consensus views by $11 billion. This forecast was accompanied by an above-consensus free cash flow (FCF) of $6 billion-$7 billion and led to a 5.9% surge in Ford Motor Co. stocks in early trade on the stock market today. This surge positions Ford pleasantly close to an early entry, particularly promising for risk-tolerant investors.