Ford’s Jim Farley reports third-quarter results Wednesday with a supplier disruption and raised guidance in view

By Helena Thorncroft

WASHINGTON — Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Jim Farley, a Georgetown University graduate, reports third-quarter results Wednesday after the market closes, with the company’s own conference call set for 5 p.m. ET. Wall Street’s question is whether a supplier disruption at the end of September and slower overall sales dent a year in which Ford raised its full-year profit outlook in July.

Analysts expect Ford to post earnings of 39 cents a share on revenue of $45.67 billion, according to the Zacks consensus estimate published Oct. 21. That would be a 13.3% drop in per-share earnings and a 3.2% drop in revenue from the third quarter of 2025. Zacks said the consensus had been revised 8.81% higher over the prior 30 days.

What Ford has already disclosed

Ford’s third-quarter U.S. sales release, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 2, set up most of the questions for Wednesday:

Sales totaled 509,764 vehicles in the quarter, down 6.6%, which Ford attributed to the planned phase-out of the Escape and Lincoln Corsair. Excluding those two models, the company estimated its retail share rose about 0.4 percentage points to 12.1%.

Super Duty production reached 110,275 trucks, up 4.4% and the best quarter in 19 years. Overall F-Series production rose 4.5% to 266,777.

At the end of September, F-150 production “was affected by a short-term supplier issue unrelated to aluminum.” Ford said the expected financial impact “is containable within the full-year 2026 adjusted EBIT guidance of $10.0 billion to $11.0 billion.”

Active paid software subscriptions passed 1.7 million, up more than 40% from a year earlier.

The release did not identify the supplier or estimate the cost.

The guidance Farley raised in July

In its second-quarter release on July 28, Ford reported revenue of $48.3 billion and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $2.5 billion, up $0.4 billion from a year earlier. It posted a net loss of $1.3 billion, which included a $3.6 billion, largely non-cash charge tied to the disposition of its BlueOval SK battery joint venture. Ford raised full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to $10 billion to $11 billion, from $8.5 billion to $10.5 billion, and adjusted free cash flow guidance to $6 billion to $7 billion.

“The more important story is the growing evidence that Ford is becoming a more profitable, more disciplined and genuinely different company,” Farley said in that release.

The table shows the split investors watch. The commercial unit, Ford Pro, and the gas and hybrid business, Ford Blue, carry the company, while the electric-vehicle unit, Model e, reported its EBIT loss of $919 million on about $1 billion of revenue. Ford Pro’s margin fell 2.7 percentage points from a year earlier, while Ford Blue’s rose 1.8 points.

Zacks noted that Ford beat the consensus in the second quarter, earning 42 cents a share against an expected 33 cents, and has beaten estimates in three of the last four quarters.

Farley’s Georgetown and Washington ties

Farley earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and computer science from Georgetown and an M.B.A. from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, according to his Ford Media Center biography. His reported 2025 compensation of $27.5 million made him one of the three highest-paid Georgetown alumni executives in this year’s proxy filings, an Inquisitor review found.

Ford’s July release also said its outlook had not factored in new policy changes by the administration, including future or revised tariffs, that had not been announced.

Ford’s third-quarter release is expected after the close on Oct. 28, and the webcast will be posted on the company’s investor relations site. The Inquisitor will update this story with the results.

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from Ford Motor Co. on the F-150 supplier issue and its tariff outlook. This story will be updated with any response.

Photo: Jim Farley portrait, 2024 (cropped). FordPhotographer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.