By DAVID KOENIG, AP Business Writer
DALLAS (AP) — Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it lost $3.1 billion in the first quarter, weighed down by its investment in an electric vehicle startup, and its revenue tumbled as a chip shortage limited supply of pickup trucks and SUVs in North America.
Company executives walked away from the loss and turned to results that ruled out the lower value of its stake in Rivian. Ford said it made $2.3 billion in pretax profit and was still on track to meet its annual target for the metric.
Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said the quarter produced mixed results.
“Clearly the demand for our new products is very strong,” Lawler said, “but we continue to have chip supply issues, which has limited us, and particularly here in North America, it hit us disproportionately on our large vehicles.”
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The chip shortage has caused Ford and General Motors to close several North American plants for a week or two at a time, including plants that build popular full-size pickup trucks.
Ford said it sold 966,000 vehicles in the first quarter, down 9% from a year earlier.
Lawler said the company also faced inflationary pressures from suppliers, but was able to recoup them thanks to rising vehicle prices. He said he couldn’t rule out “additional pricing” if inflation continues to run high.
The first quarter loss of $3.11 billion compared to a profit of $3.26 billion in the same period last year. Revenue was down 9% from a year ago to $34.48 billion. Ford said it earned 38 cents per share in the past quarter after adjusting to exclude one-time items.
Analysts had expected Ford to earn an adjusted 37 cents per share on revenue of $34.53 billion, according to a FactSet survey.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based company maintained its goal of achieving annual earnings before interest and taxes of $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion.
The shares rose 3% after hours trading after gaining 1% in the regular session.
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