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Ford slips, posts data on the Web

1K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Stacy94PGT 
#1 ·
Automaker forced to explain figures showing dismal 2003
1/23/03
By Mark Truby / The Detroit News

DEARBORN -- Ford Motor Co. inadvertently posted private financial information and earnings projections on its Web site for about 10 minutes Tuesday, but it may take time to clear up the ensuing flap.

Several slides containing 2003 profit and market share projections -- including a forecast of wider-than-expected losses in North America -- were attached to materials Ford provided to journalists and analysts for a conference call detailing the automaker's 2002 financial results.

Ford quickly pulled the documents from its Web site but they were widely distributed via e-mail.

Ford CEO Bill Ford and President Nick Scheele were peppered with questions about the slides during the conference call.

Of particular interest was a projection that the company's core North American car and truck business would lose $1.8 billion this year, triple last year's loss.

The documents further forecasted that Ford's profits in Europe and South America would improve to offset North America's losses.

The slides concerned analysts, who were taken aback by the dismal outlook for North America and doubtful Europe and South America could be successful this year.

Early Wednesday, Ford filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission that said the "back-up slides were draft and/or preliminary materials prepared for background and scenario planning, and contained a number of material inaccuracies.

"Accordingly, anyone who obtained these slides ... should disregard them."

Some analysts said the projections appeared to be unrealistic and ignored them while others expressed concern.

Rod Lache of Deutsche Bank titled his report on Ford Wednesday, "Oops ... What Slide?"

"Frankly we believe that these projections only increased the confusion over what, exactly, is happening to Ford's business," Lache wrote.

David Bradley of J.P. Morgan wrote that despite Ford's disavowals, he was "intrigued by information ... that mysteriously appeared on the company Web site."

Ford spokesman Jon Harmon said the company is working with investors to clear up the confusion and remains committed to earning 70 cents a share in 2003.

"It's an unfortunate diversion from the real news," he said. "It's not an accurate projection of the company's outlook."

Amid a wide sell-off in U.S. equities, Ford shares dropped 40 cents to $9.74 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Some of the projections Ford inadvertently disclosed earlier this week, and later asked analysts and journalists to disregard:

2003 net loss of $1.84 billion in core North American auto operations

Profits in Europe of $1.45 billion in 2003

Ford brand will capture 17.9 percent of U.S. market in 2003, up 0.4 percentage point from 2002*

Lincoln-Mercury division will grab 2.3 percent of U.S. market in 2003, down 0.1 percentage point from 2002.*

Based on annual sales of 17 million vehicles
 
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#4 ·
LunaticSVT said:
quite unfortunate actually. I have stock in ford and I dont know if I will be holding on to it much longer with the outlooks as of late. Even my GM stock is crap now.

All I can say is I am glad i didnt buy any American Airlines stock.
On the subject of stock, I would look at Boeing (depressed price with a war coming up) and in australia Boral.
 
#7 ·
ahh but will we go to war is the thing. Yes I am aware of gold and oil, but there are more that you would want to invest in..ie boeing is a good one. Airlines stocks will go down even further than they already are, but you run that risk of getting stuck with one that files bankruptcy. IE United and possibly now american.


With war looming it may or may not rear its ugly head. G Bush, even though I voted for the poor guy He should have already gone and finished off Iraq so we can just deal with the public resentment and the looming Issues in Korea......though my opinion on Korea is as follows last poll showed that 79% of S Koreans want the US out of S Korea. They want to try to ammend the bonds with N Korea. Get our 20k troops out and let them fend them selves off. We dont have the mighty communist states to deal with like Russia. Pull our troops back and let us spend the money internally in the US reviving our economy not trying to bolster every 3rd world country. But alas, the first chance I can get to get out of here and into another country I would.

Yeah I am not a patriot of this country so what. Uncy sam has had too much of my money and has done nothing good with it. Time to hit a tax haven and retire.
 
#8 ·
Aussie Pete said:
On the subject of stock, I would look at Boeing (depressed price with a war coming up) and in australia Boral.

Lockheed-Martin is where one should buy stock before or during a war.
 
#9 ·
LunaticSVT said:

With war looming it may or may not rear its ugly head. G Bush, even though I voted for the poor guy He should have already gone and finished off Iraq so we can just deal with the public resentment and the looming Issues in Korea......though my opinion on Korea is as follows last poll showed that 79% of S Koreans want the US out of S Korea. They want to try to ammend the bonds with N Korea. Get our 20k troops out and let them fend them selves off. We dont have the mighty communist states to deal with like Russia. Pull our troops back and let us spend the money internally in the US reviving our economy not trying to bolster every 3rd world country. But alas, the first chance I can get to get out of here and into another country I would.

Yeah I am not a patriot of this country so what. Uncy sam has had too much of my money and has done nothing good with it. Time to hit a tax haven and retire.
John, the Koreans remind me of W.Europe when I was in Germany. They didn't want the US there, and when most of the bases started closing. They all started crying the blues cause all the money was leaving.
 
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