Ford Motor Co. posted a $1.7 billion quarterly profit Tuesday that exceeded Wall Street expectations and said it expected to eliminate a net debt position in its automotive business by year-end.
Ford, which expects to be solidly profitable in 2010, said it had repaid $2 billion of debt in the third quarter and on Friday will repay its remaining $3.6 billion of debt owed to a retiree health care trust for the United Auto Workers union.
Net profit rose to $1.7 billion, or 43 cents per share, in the third quarter from $997 million, or 29 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding the Volvo unit it sold in August, revenue rose $1.7 billion to $29 billion.
Operating profit was 48 cents per share excluding one-time items. On that basis, analysts on averaged expected Ford to report earnings of 38 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shares of Ford were up 0.7 percent at $14.25 in trading before the market opened.
