New models both help and hurt Ford

Article Excerpt

FORD MOTOR CO. $12 (New York symbol F; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 3.8 billion; Market cap: $45.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; No dividends paid since June 2006; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.ford.com) sold 1.5 million cars and trucks in the three months ended June 30, 2011. That’s up 7.1% from 1.4 million a year earlier. The higher sales are largely due to the success of several new models. The company has 16.7% of the U.S. auto market, unchanged from a year earlier. In Europe, Ford’s market share rose to 8.4% from 7.9%. However, the extra costs to develop these new cars and trucks, along with higher prices for steel and plastics, caused Ford’s earnings to fall 7.7%, to $2.4 billion, or $0.59 a share. It earned $2.6 billion, or $0.61 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 13.4%, to $35.5 billion from $31.3 billion. The company expects its earnings in the second half of 2011 to be lower…