Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) reported first quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations on both revenue and earnings, but shares moved more than 3% lower in early Thursday trading as investors focused on one-time benefits and ongoing losses in its electric vehicle unit.
The automaker posted revenue of $43.3 billion, up 6% year over year and ahead of estimates.
Net income was $2.5 billion, while adjusted earnings before interest and taxes came in at $3.5 billion, translating to adjusted earnings of $0.66 per share versus expectations of $0.19.
A significant portion of the beat was driven by a $1.3 billion one-time benefit tied to US tariff-related reimbursements under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a federal law that allows economic measures during national emergencies. The company said the benefit reflected amounts previously paid between March 2025 and February 2026.
Excluding that item, underlying performance was more moderate, though still ahead of consensus, supported by stronger pricing, product mix, and growth in Ford’s software and physical services businesses, particularly in its Ford Blue and Ford Pro segments.
The company’s electric vehicle division remained a key pressure point. Ford Model e posted an EBIT loss of $777 million in the quarter, wider than some expectations, as the unit continues to absorb launch and development costs for new platforms.
Cash flow also remained negative, with operating cash flow of $1.3 billion and adjusted free cash flow at a use of $1.9 billion. Ford ended the quarter with $22.0 billion in cash and $43.1 billion in liquidity.
Ford raised its full-year 2026 adjusted EBIT guidance to $8.5 billion to $10.5 billion, from a prior range of $8 billion to $10 billion.
Ford said it still expects Model e to remain deeply unprofitable for the full year, guiding to segment losses of roughly $4 billion to $4.5 billion in 2026. That compares with strong profitability elsewhere in the business, including Ford Pro expected to generate $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion in EBIT, and Ford Blue forecast at $4.5 billion to $5 billion after being raised from a prior range of $4 billion to $4.5 billion.
The company also declared a second-quarter dividend of $0.15 per share.
UBS analysts said the results were “good headline but underlying is messy,” noting that while first-quarter EBIT was well above expectations, it included a larger-than-expected IEEPA-related benefit that inflated the headline figure. Excluding that, they estimated underlying EBIT at roughly $2.2 billion, still ahead of consensus but less impressive on a normalized basis.
They added that while Ford raised full-year guidance, much of the improvement appears tied to non-recurring factors and offsetting cost pressures.
UBS also pointed to rising commodity headwinds and unchanged EV losses, saying the “core” outlook is less strong than the headline numbers suggest.