Cars and Drivers

Ford Posted Q4 Loss of $800 Million, $2.8 Billion Year-Over-Year Slide in Net Income

Paul Ausick

Published: January 26, 2017 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 3:30 pm

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 results before markets opened Thursday morning. For the quarter, the automaker posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.30 on revenues of $38.7 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.58 on revenues of $40.3 billion.

For the full year, Ford reported EPS of $1.76 on automotive revenues of $151.8 billion, compared with 2015 EPS of $1.93 and revenues of $149.56 billion.

The fourth quarter net loss totaled $800 million. For the full year, net income fell $2.8 billion to $4.6 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, full-year pretax profit was down $400 million year over year to $10.4 billion.

Ford took a $3 billion charge in the fourth-quarter related to a remeasurement of the assets and obligations in Ford’s retiree-benefit plans. Ford took another $200 million charge related to the cancellation of its assembly plant in Mexico, which it had begun building last summer. While President Trump has taken credit for ending Ford’s expansion in Mexico, the company has consistently said the change was a business decision that had been under discussion for some time.

Automotive revenues totaled $141.55 billion for the year, up from $140.57 billion in 2015. Financial services revenues totaled $10.25 billion, up from $8.99 billion a year ago.

North American sales totaled $92.6 billion for the year, up $700 million compared with 2015, and pretax profit came to $9 billion, down $344 million. Operating margin was 0.5 points lower than in 2015 at 9.7%. Wholesale volume fell by 68,000 units to 3.02 million.

Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said:

The strength of our full-year results across so many parts of the business was really encouraging. We had a solid net income, although lower than last year because of our pension remeasurement. We achieved the second-best Company adjusted pre-tax profit, Auto operating margin and Auto operating cash flow. We also delivered an improved combined profit at our business units outside North America, and ended the year with a robust balance sheet. In addition, we’re pleased to have distributed $3.5 billion to shareholders last year, with a plan to provide another $2.8 billion in 2017.

The consensus analysts’ estimate for first-quarter 2017 EPS is $0.47 on revenues of $34.04 billion. For the full year, the consensus estimates call for $1.63 in EPS and revenues of $142.16 billion.

Ford’s shares traded down about 1.1% in premarket trading to $12.65, after closing at $12.79 on Wednesday. The 52-week range is $11.02 to $14.22. The consensus 12-month price target on the stock was $12.83 before this morning’s report.