Ford Motor Co. is already showing results from its controversial decision to exit the sedan business in America and make a bet on bigger vehicles. The automaker surprised Wall Street with better-than-expected earnings due mainly to selling more high-priced trucks and sport-utility vehicles.
North American pretax profit rose to $2 billion, even though Ford sold fewer vehicles, because buyers sought more richly appointed SUVs and F-Series pickups at higher average prices. That helped produce adjusted earnings of 29 cents a share, just beating analysts’ estimates, and Ford shares rose 5.9 percent in after-hours trading.
