Ford beats fourth-quarter profit forecast

Ford, under the command of Allan Mullaly, predicted that operating profit to 2013 will be in line with last year's results, considering that the largest market share in the United States offset growing losses in Europe.
Sales forecasts are the worst in Europe, and Ford is expected to lose $ 2 billion in 2013, up from $ 1.75 billion in 2012.
However, the second largest automaker vehicles of the United States believes in bigger profits in North America this year. The region was the highest strength of Ford in 2012 and helped overcome Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter. "We have to see, in the euro area, a recession in the closed of the year", said the financial Vice President, Bob Shanks, in the announcement of the results.
Ford had a pretax operating profit of nearly $ 1.7 billion in the last three months of 2012, or $ 0.31 dollar, above the average analyst estimate of $ 0.25 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/s. this result compares to $ 1.1 billion, or $ 0.20 per share, a year earlier.
Fourth-quarter revenue totaled $ 36.5 billion. In North America, the automaker earned $ 1.9 billion, $ 1 billion more than in 2011. The losses in Europe totaled US $ 732 million, well above the $ 190 million a year earlier.
The recovery in North America will be a guide for restructuring of Ford in Europe, where the company plans to close three factories and reduce production capacity by 18% to save $ 500 million a year. Ford, which foresees losses in Europe $ 200 million higher in 2013, believes in greater market share in the u.s. and China.
In Brazil, 18 are planned releases for both the car and the segment of trucks. To make the news, the brand will invest $ 4.5 billion in the country by 2015.