After Ford missed annual revenue estimates by a nickel, CEO Alan Mulally on Friday sounded confident that the company was well on the road to stronger profitability by mid-decade.
“I think that we have a great plan in the United States and Europe and also a tremendous growth plan in Asia-Pacific that’s just coming on line now,” he said. “We’ve shared all the elements of that plan.”
Mulally said Ford was planning to offer “a full family of best-in-class vehicles,” which will be based on fewer platforms and will use 60 to 70 percent of similar plans in an effort to cut costs in its global operations.
“That, with our supply base, absolutely we have the room to deliver on that expansion,” he said on “Fast Money.”
Mulally dismissed the notion that Ford had hit a plateau.
Ford announced pre-tax operating profit of $8.8 billion for 2011, making it the company’s most profitable year since 1999. Headwinds included a weak European economy, which accounted for a $190 million loss; rising commodity costs, $2.3 billion higher; and a slight decline it its operating margin.
Mulally acknowledged the challenges and said the company was shifting its approach to deal with them.
“Clearly we’ve continued to restructure our business, our foreign business in Europe for a number of years now. Up until this year, we’ve been profitable for eight years,” he said. “Of course with the slowdown going so fast, it hurt us in the fourth quarter and the year. But based on our restructuring and the business itself — plus the new products, on the revenue side, we have a number of new global platforms coming in, which people are really going to want.”
Ford shares declined 4.16 percent to close at $12.21.
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______________________________________________________ Trader disclosure: On Jan. 27, 2011, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders; Grasso owns ASTM; Grasso owns AVAV; Grasso owns BA; Grasso owns D; Grasso owns LIT; Grasso owns MHY; Grasso owns PFE; Grasso owns PRST; Grasso owns S; Grasso owns WFT; Grasso owns XLU; Karabell is long HON; Karabell is long CAT; Karabell is long QCOM; Karabell is long BIDU; Karabell is long VMU; Karabell is short JCP; Karabell is short XLF For Steve Grasso Stuart Frankel & Co and it’s partners own CUBA Stuart Frankel & Co and it’s partners own GERN Stuart Frankel & Co and it’s partners own HPQ Stuart Frankel & Co and it’s partners own HSPO Stuart Frankel & Co and it’s partners own MU Stuart Frankel & Co and it’s partners own NYX Stuart Frankel & Co and it’s partners own PRST Stuart Frankel & Co and it’s partners own WFT Stuart Frankel & Co and it’s partners own XRX For Patty Edwards Trutina Financial is long PGM Trutina Financial is long INTC Trutina Financial is long T Trutina Financial is long SBUX Trutina Financial is long NOV Trutina Financial is long SBUX For Adam Jonas For Jim Mccluney For Willie Williams For Jeff Klinefelter Piper Jaffray beneficially owns 1% or more of a class of common equity securities of J. C. Penney Company, Inc. Piper Jaffray usually provides bids and offers for the securities of J. C. Penney Company, Inc. and will, from time to time, buy and sell J. C. Penney Company, Inc. securities on a principal basis. For Dan Dicker For Dennis Gartman For Anthony Scaramucci Scaramucci is long BAC Scaramucci is long GD Scaramucci is long BDX SkyBridge Capital Is A Fund Of Funds Manager Anthony Scaramucci is one of 8 national finance chairs for Mitt Romney campaign Held a fundraiser for Mitt Romney Has contributed to the Romney campaign CNBC.com with wires.
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Dicker is long RIG
Gartman is long gold
Scaramucci is long C