How Ford Found a Tax Break to Offset a Profit Drop

Analysts weren't expecting a big second quarter from Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F). Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters before Ford's report on Wednesday had predicted that the Blue Oval would report adjusted earnings per share of $0.43, down from $0.52 a year ago.

But Ford surprised with net income of $2.05 billion -- or adjusted earnings of $0.56 per share, which was up $0.04 from the second quarter of 2016.

Why the surprise jump in profits? The first clue was that Ford's pre-tax profit fell year-over-year, but its net profit rose. Ford paid a much lower tax rate than Wall Street had expected, and lower than Ford itself had guided to earlier in the year.

Source: Fool.com