Ford Motor Company late today posted an adjusted EBIT of $3.0 billion with margin of 8.4%. Third-quarter cash flow from operations was $7.0 billion and adjusted free cash flow was $7.7 billion, both up from the second quarter largely because of the higher vehicle wholesales and profitability. The company ended Q3 with $31.5 billion of cash and $47.4 billion in total liquidity.
Once again market share slipped to 4.9% from 6% y-o-y as wholesales dropped to 1,012,000 from 1,178,000. At the end of the third quarter, new vehicle inventory for all makers in the U.S. was just under a million units or approximately 24 days of supply, says NADA. This is a 65% decrease from the start of 2021. In contrast, at the end of the third quarter in 2020, inventory was at 2.7 million units or a 50-day supply.
Third-quarter revenue of $35.7 billion was down from the same quarter a year ago. Semiconductor availability remains a challenge, but “markedly improved from the second quarter, propelling sequential increases in wholesale shipments and revenue of 32% and 33%, respectively.” Continue reading
Daimler Truck Receives Investment Grade Ratings
With an expected listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by the end of this year, Daimler Truck had approached S&P Global Ratings (S&P) and Moody’s Investor Service (Moody’s) for setting up first time credit ratings. (Ken Zino on Shareholders Vote to Spin-off of Daimler Truck, Rename Daimler AG to Mercedes-Benz Group)
Both rating agencies just issued investment grade ratings for Daimler Truck. S&P Global Ratings assigned a long-term issuer credit rating of BBB + (outlook stable) while Moody’s assigned a long-term issuer credit rating of A3 (outlook stable).
Continue reading →