Ford cuts red ink; one-time gain gives it $2.3B profit

— -- But it was able to report a net result in the black — a $2.3 billion profit — because of special items that included a one-time gain of $3.4 billion from moves to cut its debt and interest payments. That finally interrupted four consecutive quarterly net losses.

The operating results were well down from a year ago, when Ford reported an operating profit of $609 million, but better than Wall Street had expected, sending Ford stock surging.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally repeated the company's forecast that it would break even or post a full-year profit in 2011. But in questioning after the announcement investment analysts hinted that Ford could be sandbagging their forecast.

It's based on Ford holding 14% of the U.S. new-vehicle market and sales that year of 14 million.

Ford holds 16.1% of the U.S. market through the first half, according to sales tracker Autodata. Forecasts put this year's total sales at 10 million to 11 million.

Under questioning by Wall Streeters, Mulally and CFO Lewis Booth said Ford's recent gains in share, per-vehicle margin and other key factors can be sustained even though main rivals General Motors and Chrysler haver resumed operations following Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and should be stronger competitors.

Mulally said Ford will have refreshed or replaced all its models by year-end, and Booth noted that buyers are "equipping these new models with high levels of equipment," boosting profits.

Mulally also said there is an apparent, if hard to quantify, premium because Ford stayed out of bankruptcy court. He said the company is "getting positive response to Ford creating a strong business" and not needing federal loans.

Mulally and Booth also said: