A worker cleans Ford SUVs at a Los Angeles dealership Tuesday. Ford, the nation's second-largest automaker, earned $1.6 billion last quarter, its highest profit in a decade. (Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images)
DEARBORN, Mich.?? Ford is posting record profits in North America, but it's not enough to quell unease about the company's prospects elsewhere.
Ford's shares dropped nearly 5 percent Tuesday after the company said it expects to lose more money in Europe this year and break even in Asia and South America. The final straw for investors: Ford said sales will increase next year but profits should remain about the same, dashing hopes that margins will continue to grow.
The outlook "brings overly optimistic investor expectations back in check," Barclays analyst Brian Johnson said in a note to investors.
Ford posted a record pretax profit of $8.3 billion in North America in 2012, the result of a six-year turnaround orchestrated by chief executive Alan Mulally. It's reaching back into that playbook to fix its operations in Europe, where it lost $1.75 billion. The European restructuring plan announced in October was one reason Ford's stock has been trading at levels not seen since 2011.
But Tuesday, Ford forecast a loss of $2 billion in Europe, and company executives and Wall Street analysts reminded investors that improving the performance outside of North America ? in Europe and Asia ? will take time.
Ford's fourth-quarter profit totaled $1.6 billion, down from a $13.6 billion profit a year earlier. But the profit actually rose by $600 million absent a big accounting-related gain in last year's quarter.
Ford earned 31 cents per share, up from an adjusted 20 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2011. That beat analysts' forecast of 25 cents per share, according to FactSet.
Amazon. The online retailer says its fourth-quarter net income fell 45 percent, as higher revenue failed to keep pace with increased spending on order fulfillment and digital content.
Revenue, along with revenue guidance for the current quarter, missed Wall Street's expectations ? but investors still sent the world's top online retailer's stock up more than 10 percent in after-hours trading. Amazon said Tuesday that it earned $97 million, or 21 cents per share, in the October-December period. That's down from $177 million, or 38 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue for the crucial holiday quarter grew 22 percent to $21.27 billion from $17.43 billion.
Analysts had expected earnings of 28 cents per share.
U.S. Steel. The giant steelmaker reported a smaller fourth-quarter loss as carmakers and other manufacturers used more steel, and it said shipments should rise in the current quarter.
The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker lost $50 million, or 35 cents per share for the most recent quarter. A year ago, it lost $211 million, or $1.46 per share. Revenue fell 6.9 percent to $4.49 billion.
The most recent loss would have been 41 cents per share if not for a favorable settlement of a contract dispute. The result was much better than the loss of 70 cents per share expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Pfizer. The world's biggest drugmaker's fourth-quarter results easily beat Wall Street expectations, driving up its stock, as profit more than quadrupled, due to tighter spending and a $4.8 billion gain from selling its nutrition business. Those boosts offset competition from generic drugs hurting sales of Lipitor and other medicines.
Pfizer said Tuesday its net income was $6.32 billion, or 85 cents per share, up from $1.44 billion, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 7 percent to $15.1 billion.
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