Ford said today it expects lower earnings per share in the first quarter and lower pretax profit in 2017 due to higher spending on commodities, warranties and investments and a drop in sales volumes especially fleet sales.
The announcement came in a short regulatory filing ahead of an investor presentation by the company's chief financial officer, Bob Shanks.
During the presentation, Ford said US car industry sales in 2017 should dip slightly to 17.7 million units, down from a record of 17.9 million in 2016.
The company said sales should slide further to 17.5 million in 2018.
After a strong run in sales since emerging from the Great Recession earlier this decade, analysts and investors are watching for signs of whether the industry's current boom cycle is beginning to lose steam.
Ford also said it expects car sales in China, the world's largest car market, to dip to 27.2 million this year from 27.5 million in 2016.
Ford said it expects to earn between 30 cents and 35 cents per share in the first quarter. Analysts, on average, have expected earnings per share of 47 cents, according to Thomson Reuters.
The company said it expects a pretax profit for 2017 of $9 billion "which is lower than in 2016, driven by our planned investments in emerging opportunities, and to improve in 2018."
nalysts expect Ford to post pretax profit of $9.2 billion.
Ford said that as of February, it had 79 days of gross supply of vehicles on hand, down from a total inventory of 84 days in February 2016.
