Ford’s Sales Miss Expectations

Today was a rough day for shares of Ford Motor (F). The automaker got as low as $13.51 today before closing at $13.72. The catalyst for the selling was a December sales report that missed expectations.

Ford Motor Co.’s U.S. sales rose 8.4% in December, compared to a year earlier, and 5.3% for the year.

In what’s likely to be a record year U.S. auto sales, the automaker sold 2.61 million vehicles, marking its best performance in nine years.

But December’s increase trailed Edmunds.com analyst expectations of 11% growth.

The Ford brand rose 8.2% in December and 5.3% for the year, and the Lincoln luxury brand rose 12.1% in December and 7.1% for the year.

Like the rest of the industry, Ford reported a sharp shift from cars into crossovers, sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks.

Sales of the company’s crossovers and SUVs rose 13.6% in December and 7.8% for the year, while truck sales rose 13% in December and 8.7% for the year.

But car sales slumped 4.2% in December and 0.9% for the year.

Ford will report Q4 earnings later this month. Wall Street expects earnings of 47 cents per share which is compared with 26 cents per share in Q4 of 2014.

Posted by on January 5th, 2016 at 9:20 pm


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