Ford lifted by VW's Argo investment, posts quarterly profit

Ford Motor Co on Thursday posted a quarterly profit thanks to an investment by Volkswagen AG in its self-driving Argo AI unit, which offset a production shutdown forced by the coronavirus pandemic as the No. 2 US automaker said it still expects to post a loss for the full year.

Excluding the windfall from the investment in Pittsburgh-based Argo, Ford posted a loss that was lower than Wall Street analysts had forecast.

German automaker VW closed its $2.6 billion investment in Argo last month.

Ford said it expects a pre-tax profit of between $500 million and $1.5 billion for the third quarter and a loss for the fourth quarter, which features three significant product launches delayed by the coronavirus shutdown earlier this year.

Ford said on July 27 it repaid $7.7 billion of an outstanding $15.4 billion on its revolving credit facilities, and also extended $4.8 billion of its three-year revolving credit lines.

The automaker said it has almost $40 billion in cash, and should be able to maintain or exceed its target cash balance of $20 billion for the rest of 2020, even if global auto demand falls or if COVID-19 forces another major wave of plant closures.

Ford reported net income in the second quarter of $1.1 billion, or 28 cents a share, compared with a profit of $100 million, or 4 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Ford posted a second-quarter operating loss of $1.9 billion, or 35 cents a share.

Analysts had expected a loss for the quarter of $1.17 per share.