Ford Reports 3Q Profit of Almost $1 Billion

Ford Motor Co. said Monday it earned $997 million in the third quarter, had its first operating profit since early 2008 and that it expects to be “solidly profitable” in 2011, Bloomberg reported.

It reported a quarterly net profit of 29 cents a share, compared with net loss of $161 million, or 7 cents, a year earlier, Bloomberg said.

Ford, the only major U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy, said that on an adjusted basis it had a quarterly pretax profit of $1.1 billion, or 26 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $3 billion or $1.32, last year.

The adjusted level beat the 20-cents per share adjusted loss it was forecast to report by an average of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Automotive revenue rose $100 million from a year ago, while third-quarter sales fell 2.5% to $30.9 billion as Ford boosted North American production by 18% during the period.