Ford earnings beats Wall Street estimates

By Deepa Seetharaman

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote) reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday as strong results in North America helped offset weak international results and higher taxes.

Ford shares rose 2.4 percent to $12.16 in premarket trading after its profit from continuing operations beat expectations.

Excluding one-time items, the company reported a profit of 39 cents per share compared to analyst expectations of 35 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The No. 2 U.S. automaker reported first-quarter net income of $1.40 billion, or 35 cents per share, down from the $2.55 billion, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier.

About half that drop in net income was due to a higher tax rate after Ford made an accounting change late last year, it said.

Revenue fell to $32.4 billion from $33.1 billion. Analysts had expected $31.27 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For Europe, Ford reported a pretax loss of $149 million, hurt by dwindling auto demand as many countries there experienced recession-like conditions. It also reported a loss for its operations in Asia and Africa as well as lower earnings in South America.

Ford depended on its home market for strength. North American pretax earnings were $2.1 billion, up $289 million from a year ago. That quarterly profit was the best since at least 2000, when the company began breaking out regional results.