KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Ford shares are tumbling in Thursday morning after the automaker posted a downbeat outlook weighed on by losses in its electric vehicle business that offset higher-than-estimated quarterly results.
- Ford Model e, the company’s EV division, reported a 2024 EBIT loss of $5.1 billion.
- CEO Jim Farley said tariffs on Canada and Mexico would wipe out “billions of dollars of industry profits.”
Ford (F) shares are tumbling Thursday morning after the automaker posted a downbeat outlook weighed on by losses in its electric vehicle (EV) business that offset higher-than-estimated quarterly results.
The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker projected 2025 adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of between $7.0 billion and $8.5 billion, marking a sharp decline from 2024’s $10.2 billion. The company attributed the soft outlook to “headwinds related to market factors.”
Ford Model e, the company’s EV division, reported a 2024 EBIT loss of $5.1 billion, “as the company continues to invest in future products” and projected a 2025 EBIT loss of $5.0 billion to $5.5 billion. Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley said in an earnings call on Feb. 5—a transcript of which was made available by AlphaSense—that the EV market is facing “increased competition with increased pricing pressure.”
Still, the company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $48.2 billion, up 5% year-over-year, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 39 cents. Both surpassed consensus estimates from Visible Alpha.
Ford CEO Farley Notes Tariffs Would Hurt Industry
Farley said during the earnings call that the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs on American trading partners would affect the industry as well as mean “higher prices for customers.”
“There’s no question that tariffs at 25% level from Canada and Mexico, if they’re protracted, would have a huge impact on our industry with billions of dollars of industry profits wiped out and adverse effect on the US jobs, as well as the entire value system in our industry,” Farley said.
Ford shares are down more than 6% in early morning trading Thursday. They have lost more than a fifth of their value in the past year.