(AOF) – Ford today published fourth quarter sales of $44.0 billion (+17%) (above the consensus of $40.37 billion), with net profit of $1.3 billion. dollars (compared to 12.3 billion a year earlier) and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes at 2.6 billion dollars. The US auto giant’s adjusted earnings per share, on the other hand, are below expectations, at 0.51 dollars when analysts were expecting 0.62 dollars. This is why the title is expected to fall sharply, by more than 7%, in pre-market.
For 2023, Ford expects adjusted Ebit of $9 billion to $11 billion (from 10.4 in 2022), with some $6 billion in adjusted free cash flow, compared to $9.1 billion for 2022. The consensus is amounts to 9.94 billion dollars for adjusted Ebit.
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A paradoxical performance
Data from EY highlights that the performance of the world’s top 16 manufacturers was particularly strong in 2021. While the average margin has fallen for three years in a row, from 6.3% in 2017 to just 3.5% in 2020 , this margin stood at 8.5% in 2021. This level is a record for ten years. However, the context was particularly hectic for manufacturers, faced with unprecedented shortages of components. Global sales fell 14% in 2020, the year of the health crisis, to rebound by only 5% in 2021. However, last year, players were able to reap the benefits of their efforts on their fixed cost structure. .