"The earnings came despite an $800 million revenue drop. But Ford said it cut costs by $1 billion during the quarter, accomplished through layoffs in North America and Europe, reduced pension and retiree health care costs and improvements in productivity and product development."
They can't keep cutting costs like they did in the last quarter, especially since they just locked into another deal with the UAW. Ford is still smothered in debt, while GM and Chrysler are now completely debt free after their bankruptcy. Ford won't pay taxes on any income for twenty years because of all its operating loss carryforwards, but they still have to pay down debt that's secured by basically every asset they have in North America. Ford isn't by ANY means a strong corporation right now, mainly because their balance sheet is by far the weakest of any auto maker selling in America right now.
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Bryan
2007 F-250 6.0L PSD FX4
Growing four inches straight up by Christmas
That's great that ford made a profit this year, but Ford makes a profit every year.
Don't take this the wrong way. I love my Ford SUV and Truck. The only problem I have with them is, why don't they back up their products. There are so many TSB with all their car and trucks. They should really look out for their customer who help this company stay in business. Again this is only my opinion, but they should change their warranty to 5 years or 100,000 miles bumper to bumper.
3yrs or 36,000 miles doesn't cut it anymore. People today drive a lot and they know that. If Ford wants to keep their customer happy and loyal. Then get rid of all the TSB and fix their mistake. They spend good money on their engineers and designers, but they won't fix the problem they made. Ford's true customers won't be made if they own up to their mistake. Just fix it and lets move on. Ford model is "Bulit Ford Tough" back it up. Ford should do something way different from other company. Really back up their products and change that warranty.
We are losing too many American products. Let's keep this one really Strong Ford.
Again, This is only my opinion. Just had to vent..
"The earnings came despite an $800 million revenue drop. But Ford said it cut costs by $1 billion during the quarter, accomplished through layoffs in North America and Europe, reduced pension and retiree health care costs and improvements in productivity and product development."
They can't keep cutting costs like they did in the last quarter, especially since they just locked into another deal with the UAW. Ford is still smothered in debt, while GM and Chrysler are now completely debt free after their bankruptcy. Ford won't pay taxes on any income for twenty years because of all its operating loss carryforwards, but they still have to pay down debt that's secured by basically every asset they have in North America. Ford isn't by ANY means a strong corporation right now, mainly because their balance sheet is by far the weakest of any auto maker selling in America right now.
While I respect your opinion you have a couple of things wrong...
Ford has not "locked in" a deal with the UAW yet. They are still under negotiation to get on parity with GM (Goverment Motors) terms.
GM & Chrysler are not debt free... the bailout money given to them is a debt owed althought I heard something that it will be along time before the government expects to get it back
Many companies (mine included) carry their debt forward. It's one of the few ways a company can dig itself out of a recession.
Ford's balance sheet is the strongest of the big 3 not the weakest...
Ford has been gaining market share every month for the last 10 months...
According to JD Powers Ford's quality is now on par with anyone including the Japanese...
Bottom line is that they are on a solid (albiet slow) road to recovery ;-)
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Eddie 2006 F-350 Larriat FX-4 CC PSD - OEM 20"wheels, Michelin LTX A/S, Spray in Bed Liner, Pace-Edwards Toneau, Fumoto valve, Coolant Bypass filter, Hidden Hitch 2007 Ranger XL 2.3 -2WD, Auto, Short Bed, The Beast !
Yeah Ford!!! They also got a 90% reliability rating where GM got 44% and Chrapsler got 33%.
Exactly. Now it's time to get people to start realizing that an American car manufacturer can actually do as well as, or outperform, the foreign car companies.
Of course, GM and Chrysler aren't going to make that easy
I also think that not taking bailout $'s helped them with their public image, leading to more sales versus GM/Chrysler, but it's hard to measure that difference.
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- art k. - Moderator for the Superduty, V10, and FE forums
'01 F250SD SC SB XLT V10 4x4 auto 3.73 Warn hubs Volant CAI, eBay headers and y-pipe - 5-star custom tunes on SCT X3
'97 Cougar XR7 30th Anniv Edition 4.6L
'74 F250 Highboy FE390 deceased! I've been wrong before, I'll be wrong again. Just wait and see.
While I respect your opinion you have a couple of things wrong...
Ford has not "locked in" a deal with the UAW yet. They are still under negotiation to get on parity with GM (Goverment Motors) terms. UAW announced that since Ford has succeeded with productivity gains and other cost cutting measures, they won't accept the same concessions that they made to GM and Chrysler. See the cover article in todays WSJ.
GM & Chrysler are not debt free... the bailout money given to them is a debt owed althought I heard something that it will be along time before the government expects to get it back. OK, debt free is a stretch, but they had over $30 billion in CURRENT liabilities walk off the balance sheet, that's a huge part of their balance sheet. In the bankruptcy, the government took an ownership stake in the company in lieu of a creditor relationship, I think the Fed now owns roughly 80% of the new corp. I can't find the financials for the new GM, which isn't suprising since the liquidation corp just filed theirs three days ago, but however they come out, for the next few years GM has a pretty big advantage over Ford, specifically stemming from current liabilites.
Many companies (mine included) carry their debt forward. It's one of the few ways a company can dig itself out of a recession. Ford has currently about $6 billion in debt that has had the maturation date moved from 2011 to 2013, they're working on moving roughly $5 billion more into 2013.That's just stopping one chunk from becoming current , there's still $50 billion more in current, with $155 billion waiting on the LT side. If you meant they can carry losses forward, then yes Ford has some huge NOL carryforwards for the next 20 years, but still, benefiting 35 cents on the dollar from real economic losses is helpful, but won't pull the company out of its hole.
Ford's balance sheet is the strongest of the big 3 not the weakest...In 2008, Ford listed $235 billion in liabilities, and $218 billion in assets. Of those assets, almost $80 billion are either long-term or PPE, and are pretty much in no way liquid at all. Run the numbers on the current ratio, quick ratio, and debt to equity ratio. They aren't the worst in the industry, but when you look at the overall state of the BS, mainly the liabilities section, you can see that Ford is standing at the bottom of a very nasty and deep hole.
Ford has been gaining market share every month for the last 10 months..Helps yes, but this is mainly due to Ford having a better supply than GM and Chrysler during the cash for clunkers program, because Ford was smart and ramped UP production leading up to that program and didn't run into some of the product shortages the other two did.
Bottom line is that they are on a solid (albiet slow) road to recovery Bottom line is that Ford is a disagreement with a creditor away from bankruptcy court, increasing market share and sales or not. Check out the cash flow statement for some good news, there's a reason Ford is looking to borrow $2 billion in cash in a big hurry, because you can't lose $13 billion in cash in a year and still survive without a lot of help.
I want Ford to come out on top just as much as any loyal customer, but I refuse to get excited over a 3rd quarter earnings report that is basically a bright spot on a black canvas the size of Texas.
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- art k. - Moderator for the Superduty, V10, and FE forums
'01 F250SD SC SB XLT V10 4x4 auto 3.73 Warn hubs Volant CAI, eBay headers and y-pipe - 5-star custom tunes on SCT X3
'97 Cougar XR7 30th Anniv Edition 4.6L
'74 F250 Highboy FE390 deceased! I've been wrong before, I'll be wrong again. Just wait and see.
The fact is that Ford builds the most reliable American cars made and I can tell you from personal experience that they do stand behind there products and care about there customers.
When I had problems with my '03 SD 6.0 I was made happy by my dealer and Ford. I did not wish to pursue a buyback if I could avoid it, so the dealer offered me an excellent trade in for my '03 and I purchased the '06 with Ford offering me an ESP plan, no charge to ease my mind on the '06 purchase.
As I am also a fleet customer, I recently had a problem with an '04 Explorer where the rear diff clutch pack had to be replaced and the tranny solenoid body had to be replaced as well. The truck is almost 6 years old but only has 40K on it. I appealed to Ford for a good will gesture toward the repair, which cost me $1300 and they promptly responded with an offer to cover half the cost. I thought that was pretty decent being that the thing only came with a 3/36 warranty and was almost 3 years out. Realistically, they could have said sorry, your way out of warranty and I would have no right to be pissed because they would have been right. Maybe I have been lucky but that little goodwill offer will be remembered when I go to move the Nissan that my wife wanted out of the garage and replace it with that new Taurus.
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2006 F-350 Lariat 6.0 PSD, Dark Stone, CC, 20" Wheels, Rhino Liner, Extang Trifecta, Bone stock.
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Great to see an American co. do well.
that my wife wanted out of the garage and replace it with that new Taurus.
