Cars and Drivers

What to Look For in Ford's Q4 Earnings Report

Chris Lange

Published: January 22, 2019 12:00 pm

Last Updated: January 31, 2020 1:45 am

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is set to report its fourth-quarter financial results after the markets close on Wednesday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $0.32 in earnings per share (EPS) and $37.01 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had $0.39 in EPS and $38.5 billion in revenue.

Earlier this month, the automaker announced an alliance with Volkswagen that may be the very definition of a nonevent. Investors certainly weren’t impressed.

At that time, Ford filed two reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), one including a presentation made at the Wolfe Research industry conference and the other including preliminary financial results for 2018.

Looking at the second filing first, Ford said it expects full-year earnings per share (EPS) of $0.92 and adjusted EPS of $1.30. The consensus estimate for adjusted EPS was $1.33 at the time, still far below the $1.78 the company reported for 2017. The company also said it will pay its same dividend ($0.15 per quarter) for the first quarter of 2019.

At the most recent closing price, the yield on that dividend is 7.2%. The company has a total addressable market cap of nearly $34 billion.

Overall, Ford has outperformed the broad markets in 2019 alone, with the stock up about 12%. However, over the past 52 weeks the stock is down 28%.

A few analysts weighed in on Ford ahead of the results:

• Jefferies has a Buy rating with an $11 price target.
• BMO Capital Markets has a Hold rating and an $8.50 target.
• Barclays has a Hold rating with a $9 price target.
• Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating.
• Berenberg Bank has a Sell rating and a $6 target.

Shares of Ford were last seen at $8.55, with a 52-week range of $7.41 to $12.15. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $9.99.