Ford (F) Expected To Move Closer To the Black in Q3

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October 30, 2009 3:58 PM EDT

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), or FoMoCo as it is more informally known, would probably make its founder, Henry, proud over the past year. The company has survived a tremendous recession which hit cyclical sectors such as autos, particularly hard. So hard, in fact, that Ford is the only major US automaker that has made it through alone when Chrysler and GM went into bankruptcy and sought government aid.

Ford is expected to post a loss of $0.13 per share on revenues of 28.23 billion. Last quarter, Ford reported a Q2 loss of $0.21, way below the $0.48 consensus. Revenues were also above the consensus at $27.20 billion. For a year ago, Ford posted a loss of $1.31 per share.

Data from Bloomberg reveals that 8 analysts have a Buy rating on Ford, 6 have a Hold rating, and 3 recommend to Sell. The analyst price target is $9.86. The 'Street high' price is $12, and the low is $7.

Craig-Hallum initiated their coverage on Ford today with a Buy rating, and an astounding $12 price target. That's nearly double what the stock is trading at right now. An analyst from the firm said that Ford is the leader in an industry emerging from a "nuclear winter," and the price does not yet reflect the earning power that Ford has. The firm cites stronger demand, a solid lineup, advancing on competitors troubles, and restructuring taking hold.

JP Morgan has a Neutral rating on Ford, and a price target of $8. The firm says they could see Ford turning an EPS of $0.16, versus the consensus of ($0.13). The surprise profit could be caused by moderating credit losses and lease residual gains. JP sees 11% higher production and sequentially
better contribution margins for Q3.

Barclays recently upgraded Ford from Underweight to Equalweight, and raised their price target to $8 from $7.

In August, Ford made the announcement that they were going to ramp up production in Q309 and Q409. They were only going to add about 10k vehicles in Q3, but planned to produce 570k vehicles in Q4, an increase of 33% over 2008. Ford also saw sales up 17% in August.

Ford is expected to release their earnings for Q309 on Monday, November 2, 2009, at 7:00am (EDT). Stay tuned to Streetinsider.com's Earnings section to see our analysis of the highly-anticipated quarterly results within seconds of their release.