What Happened To Ford? (F)

Ford F reported earnings this morning that missed Wall Street estimates, and the stock is getting slammed, so what happened? The company reported earnings of 30 cents per share on revenues of $32.5 billion, while Wall Street was expecting earnings of 48 cents per share on revenues of $30.4 billion. Revenues blew past estimates, so what's the reason for the 7% hair cut in the stock this morning?. One, Wall Street may not have taken into account the $960 million debt repayment the company made during the quarter. Another troubling sign is Ford's inability to compete in Europe, where the competition is getting stronger. The European market “was incredibly competitive in the fourth quarter,” Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth told reporters today. “We're not going to chase share. In Europe, we were able to hold the line on net pricing. We continue to worry about the margins of the business and not just chase volume.” "Our 2010 results exceeded our expectations, accelerating our transition from fixing the business fundamentals to delivering profitable growth for all," said CEO Alan Mulally. "We are investing in an unprecedented amount of products, technology and growth in all regions of the world." "The progress that we made improving our core automotive business has allowed us to strengthen significantly the balance sheet in 2010, and this will remain a key area of focus for us in 2011," Booth said. Shares of Ford are getting hurt in pre-market trading, down $1.38 to $17.41, a loss of 7.3%.