Ford Motor (F) released its Q1 2023 earnings results after market close on Tuesday, May 2, as the automaker gives us our closest look at its Model e electric car division yet.
Ford Q1 2023 earnings preview
Earlier today, we posted a preview of what you can expect from Ford’s first-quarter earnings results.
Ford’s electric car sales lost momentum in the first three months of 2023. Despite overall EV sales growing 41% YOY, Mustang Mach-E sales slipped nearly 20% to just over 5,400 units as the automaker retooled its factory in Mexico (Ford also just reopened Mustang Mach-E orders) in order to boost production in the second half of the year.
This is the first earnings report in which Ford breaks down financial results by business unit, giving us a closer look at the automakers Model e electric vehicle segment.
Although Ford has said it expects to lose $3 billion on EVs this year as it works to double Mach-E and triple F-150 Lightning production, it has not indicated how much it anticipates to lose per quarter.
The expected lose comes after Ford already revealed it had lost $2.1 billion making EVs last year for a total loss of $6 billion since 2021.
That said, Ford does expect its first-gen EVs to approach the breakeven point later this year as it works toward hitting its 8% EBIT margin target by the end of 2026.
Wall St analysts are expecting Ford’s total revenue to rise to around $39.2 billion with EPS up slightly YOY to 0.42.
Ford’s first quarter earnings results
In the first quarter of 2023, Ford’s Model e EV segment generated $700 million in revenue, a decrease of 27% from last year.
Ford’s Model e operating losses swelled to $722 million, more than doubling YOY compared to $342 million in Q1 2022. The business unit’s operating margin also fell to (102.1)%, a drop of 63 percentage points compared to last year.
The EV segment was the only unprofitable business unit, with revenue reaching $41.5 billion overall, up 20% from a year ago and beating expectations.
Ford Pro, the company’s commercial and software business unit saw operating income nearly triple to $1.4 billion.
Ford posted overall net income of $1.8 billion compared to a net loss of $3.4 billion in 2022 that was primarily associated with a loss in value on its Rivian’s investment.
Cash flow from operations was $2.8 billion with $692 million in adjusted free cash flow. Ford ended the quarter with nearly $29 billion in cash and over $46 billion in liquidity.
Rival Amercial automaker General Motors also posted strong overall Q1 earnings results with revenue rising to $40 billion as it prepares for a breakout year with its EVs.
However, unlike GM, Ford is reaffirming guidance of $9 billlion to $11 billion adjusted EBIT rather than raising it. As for Model e, Ford is sticking with guidance for a full year loss of around $3 billion.
Ford’s stock is down around 9% over the past year and is nearly flat (-1%) in afterhours trading on the news.
Check back for updates from Ford’s Q1 2023 earnings call. You can refresh the page to find the latest highlights.