Ford Motor mentioned on Wednesday that it misplaced $3.1 billion within the first three months of the yr due to a pointy drop within the inventory worth of Rivian, an electrical car start-up that Ford has taken a stake in. Ford was additionally damage by slowing gross sales stemming from an ongoing scarcity of pc chips.
With out taking in account the decline in its shares in Rivian, Ford mentioned it made $2.3 billion earlier than curiosity and taxes, down from $3.9 billion a yr earlier. Its web revenue within the first quarter of 2021 was $3.3 billion.
Ford’s chief monetary officer, John Lawler, mentioned the corporate was seeing robust demand for its sport-utility automobiles and pickup vans however couldn’t produce sufficient of them. “We didn’t have sufficient chips to construct the automobiles clients needed and couldn’t take full benefit of our manufacturing capability,” he mentioned in a convention name.
Ford mentioned its income within the first quarter fell to $34.5 billion, from $36.2 billion a yr earlier. The corporate offered 966,000 automobiles within the first quarter, down from 1.1 million a yr in the past. Increased costs for brand spanking new automobiles have helped Ford and different automakers offset a number of the impression of decrease gross sales.
The corporate’s efficiency stood in distinction to 2 massive rivals. On Tuesday, Common Motors reported a $2.9 billion revenue for the primary quarter, and final week, Tesla mentioned it made $3.3 billion.
Mr. Lawler mentioned Ford was taking steps to extend its provide of semiconductors and anticipated its fee of manufacturing to enhance over the course of the yr. It’s also relying on fast progress in gross sales of electrical automobiles. The automaker, which just lately began making an electrical model of its F-150 pickup truck, goals to make 600,000 electrical automobiles and vans a yr by the tip of 2023.
Ford mentioned its outlook for 2022 was unchanged, and it expects a full-year revenue of $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion earlier than taxes and sure different bills. Earlier this yr it predicted that it could see “considerably greater revenue in North America” in 2022 and that international gross sales would decline barely within the first quarter however rise 10 p.c to fifteen p.c over the complete yr.
Ford invested $500 million in Rivian in 2019, and the start-up’s shares rose sharply after an preliminary public inventory providing final fall. Its inventory was buying and selling at about $100 on the finish of 2021 however has fallen to round $31 as Rivian has struggled to ramp up manufacturing of an electrical pickup truck, an electrical S.U.V. and a supply van for Amazon.
To mirror that drop in Rivian’s share worth, Ford took a noncash cost in opposition to its revenue, Mr. Lawler mentioned.
