What to expect from Ford's (F) Q3 earnings

What happened

Ford will report third-quarter earnings on Wednesday afternoon. Last quarter, Ford reported $48.3 billion in revenue, down 3.8% from a year earlier, and missed analysts' revenue expectations while beating adjusted operating income and earnings-per-share estimates.

Confirmed

Global impact / market context

Ford's revenue is expected to be flat year over year this quarter, a slowdown from the 9.4% growth recorded in the same quarter last year. Flat sales could limit profit growth and make cost control more important for earnings.

Analyst inference

Among Ford's automobile manufacturing peers, some already reported third-quarter results. One peer delivered 2.9% year-on-year revenue growth and beat analysts' expectations by 2.7%, while another reported flat revenue in line with consensus estimates.

Analyst inference

What to watch

1. Ford's third-quarter revenue result compared with the flat year-on-year expectation, after last quarter's $48.3 billion revenue came in below analysts' forecasts. Confirmed
2. Watch whether Ford's adjusted operating income and earnings per share again beat estimates, as they did last quarter, even if revenue falls short. Proposed
3. Watch how Ford shares react to the report, given that some automobile manufacturing peers traded down after their results despite revenue growth or in-line sales. Analyst inference

Evidence

• stockstory.org