Ford Motor Co.

Ford Motor Co. ( F - Analyst Report ) recently hit a new 5-year high after reporting another great quarter in late April that included a 48% earnings surprise. Although shares have pulled back a bit over the last few weeks in the weak market, the up trend of the last 14 months is still in tact.

Company Description

Ford Motor Company designs, manufactures and sells cars and trucks worldwide. The company was founded in 1906 and has a market cap of $39.58 billion.

Ford was one of the few domestic auto makers that was able to traverse the economic collapse of 2008 and 2009 without a government bailout, helping to drive the public's favorable opinion on the company compared to the train wreck that is known as GM. Coming out of the recession, Ford has aggressively cut its costs and seen its sales spike, on display with better than expected Q1 results from April 27.

First-Quarter Results

Revenue for the period was up 13% from last year to $28.1 billion. Earnings also came in strong at 46 cents, 48% ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Ford has been handily beating expectations over the last year with a 4-quarter average earnings surprise of 116%.

The company's North America segment saw big gains from last year, with pre-tax operating profit up $1.9 billion to $1.2 billion. Ford's European arm's pre-tax operating profit was up $692 million to $107 million.

The company's credit division, Ford Motor Credit Company, also saw big improvements, with its pre-tax profit up $864 million to $828 million.

Balance Sheet

Ford has also been working aggressively to tighten up its balance sheet, with its cash position up about $3 billion from last quarter to $24 billion while its long-term debt fell $15 billion to $130 billion.

Estimates

We saw estimates take a nice jump on the good quarter, with the current year up 35 cents in the last month to $1.35. The next-year estimate is up 20 cents in the same time to $1.62, a solid 19.5% growth projection.

Valuation

Not only is Ford on a bit of a roll right now, its share price also has value, trading with a forward P/E of 8X, a steep discount to its peer's 25X.

2-Year Chart

Ford has recently pulled back a bit after hitting a new 5-year high in late April. The long-term trend is still in play though and should provide support on any pullback, take a look below.

Michael Vodicka is the Momentum Stock Strategist for Zacks.com. He is also the Editor in charge of the new Zacks Momentum Trader Service.