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Dearborn, Michigan - Ford Motor Company said on Tuesday it swung back to profit in the third quarter as income from its financial arm helped the car giant top Wall Street earnings forecasts.
Ford said net income was $266m in the July-September period, or 15c per share. That compared with a loss of $25m in the same period a year ago.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had projected earnings, on average, of 14c per share.
Total revenue, including the contribution from the company's motor credit unit, rose to $39bn from $36.7bn, also ahead of most forecasts.
Ford said car sales worldwide rose to $32.8bn from $30.2bn, and vehicle-unit sales grew to 1.5 million from 1.42 million.
The company still lost money on its core carmaking operations, but offset that through its financial operations and other activities.
The operating loss for the quarter amounted to $609m, dragged down by reorganisation costs at its Jaguar operations in Britain.
Profitable areas included a rise in net income at Ford Motor Credit Company to $734m from $504m a year earlier, and a profit at rental car segment Hertz, which reported a $249m in income compared with $186m during the same period a year ago.
Ford raised its 2004 earnings projection to between $2 and $2.05 per share from continuing operations, excluding special items, based on "the strong performance" of the company's financial services segment.
"I'm very proud of what our team has accomplished," said Bill Ford, chairperson and chief executive officer.
"We've made solid progress in the last two and a half years and we're building momentum. We're not going to let up on our efforts to raise our quality, lower our costs, or improve on the fundamentals of our business, and we'll continue the biggest product roll-out in our company's history."