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Source: S&P Capital IQ transcripts via Xpressfeed · latest indexed call 2026-07-28 · generated 2026-08-01.

Latest call digest

Ford Motor Company, Q2 2026 Earnings Call, Jul 28, 2026 · 2026-07-28T21:00:00

Q2 2026 — reported July 28, 2026. The digest of prepared remarks was consistently upbeat: management framed the quarter as "growing evidence that our strategy is working," with $48.3 billion in revenue (down 4% year-over-year) but $2.5 billion in adjusted EBIT, up 17% on strong mix and net pricing. Full-year adjusted EBIT guidance was raised and narrowed to $10–11 billion (a $1 billion midpoint raise) and free cash flow lifted to $6–7 billion. Jim Farley organized the story around three Ford+ pillars — core auto, software/physical services, and adjacencies led by Ford Energy — and leaned on quality (a #1 finish among mainstream brands in J.D. Power's 2026 Initial Quality Study), off-road/passion products (25% of U.S. sales in the quarter), the ~$30,000 UEV platform launching next year, and a target of 20 gigawatt-hours of Ford Energy capacity by late next year.

The Q&A reality was more guarded than the script. Beneath the raise sat a $1.3 billion net loss driven by a $3.6 billion special charge tied to the May disposition of the BlueOval SK battery joint venture. Segment results were uneven: Ford Blue EBIT of $1.1 billion (up 72%) against a Ford Pro EBIT of $1.7 billion (down 26% on Novelis-related disruption) and a still-loss-making Model e (−$919 million, though improving). Analysts pushed on why the raise wasn't larger, why the implied second-half run-rate steps down (management cited an extra ~$900 million of commodity cost and higher UEV/Ford Energy investment), the pace of Ford Energy customer contracting, and the durability of the warranty/recall improvement. On 2027, CFO Sherry House walked through puts and takes but declined to commit to a direction, calling it "too early to say." Cathy O'Callaghan's Ford Credit delivered EBT of $757 million, and the company reiterated its 8% EBIT-margin target for 2029. A new IR chief, Maria Ricciardone, hosted her first call.

Participant coverage from the latest call.

Group	Participants	Count
Management	Operator; Maria Ricciardone — Chief Investor Relations Officer, Ford Motor Company; James Farley — President, CEO & Director, Ford Motor Company; Sherry House — Chief Financial Officer, Ford Motor Company; Andrew Frick — President of Ford Blue, Ford Model e & Lincoln, Ford Motor Company; Kumar Galhotra; Alicia S. Davis — President of Ford Pro, Ford Motor Company	7
Analysts	Andrew Percoco — Head of North America Autos and Shared Mobility Research & Equity Analyst, Morgan Stanley, Research Division; Alexander Perry — Vice President, Equity Research Analyst, BofA Securities, Research Division; Joseph Spak — Analyst, UBS Investment Bank, Research Division; Mark Delaney — Equity Analyst, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division; Dan Levy — Senior Analyst, Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division; Gautam Narayan — Assistant Vice President, RBC Capital Markets, Research Division; Michael Ward — Managing Director, Citigroup Inc., Research Division; Itay Michaeli — Senior Analyst, TD Cowen, Research Division; Emmanuel Rosner — Managing Director of Research & Senior Research Analyst, Wolfe Research, LLC; Colin Langan — Executive Director & Senior Equity Analyst, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division; Xin Yu — Research Analyst, Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division	11

Curated latest-call exchanges; one row per analyst topic.

Analyst	Firm	Topic	What changed in Q&A
Andrew Percoco	Morgan Stanley	Ford Energy customer contracting	Pressed on whether Ford is in direct offtake talks with hyperscalers and "what inning" contracting is in; Farley said the demand signal is strong and put it at roughly the third inning of selling out 2028's 20 GWh capacity, with a broadening customer base beyond utilities.
Joseph Spak	UBS	F-Series second-half volume recovery	Asked why the guide assumes a more measured volume recovery despite the Novelis ramp being on track; House attributed the change to mix rather than demand, noting F-Series sits at a lean ~45-day supply with wholesale upside.
Mark Delaney	Goldman Sachs	Tariffs and USMCA	Probed further tariff mitigation and USMCA direction; Farley framed a revised USMCA as an opportunity to level the field versus Japan and South Korea and declined to give specifics on tariff mitigation, calling it early days.
Dan Levy	Barclays	Quality award and warranty/recall cost path	Asked what the J.D. Power #1 finish means for future warranty and recall costs; Kumar Galhotra said recalls are down about 40% year-over-year and described a "virtuous cycle" from initial quality to lower warranty and recall costs, though recall savings lag.
Colin Langan	Wells Fargo	Second-half run-rate / implied slowdown	Questioned why the second half shouldn't be annualized given the Novelis recovery; House pointed to higher second-half commodity cost (two quarters versus one), accelerated UEV, Ford Energy and Oakville investment, and the non-repeat of the Q1 IEEPA benefit.
Emmanuel Rosner	Wolfe Research	2027 EBIT direction	Asked whether 2026 improvements carry into higher 2027 EBIT; House laid out puts and takes (Novelis cost non-repeat, cost reductions, IEEPA non-repeat, launch and commodity costs) but concluded it is too early to say whether they net to higher EBIT.

Theme tracker

Themes are curator-classified across supplied calls.

Theme	Status	Quarters mentioned	Read-through
Ford Pro and high-margin software / physical services	persisted	Q3 2023, Q2 2025, Q3 2025, Q4 2025, Q1 2026, Q2 2026	The most consistent through-line: Pro is positioned as the durable, less-cyclical profit pillar, with paid subscriptions and parts/service repeatedly cited (roughly 1.6 million paid subscriptions by Q2 2026) and a target of software and physical services reaching about 20% of Pro EBIT. Central to the stated path to an 8% margin by 2029.
Model e losses and the EV strategy reset	persisted	Q3 2023, Q2 2025, Q3 2025, Q4 2025, Q1 2026, Q2 2026	A recurring theme that shifted in tone from aggressive scaling toward a smaller, affordable, capital-efficient bet. Management rationalized the role of pure EVs in December 2025, and now centers on the ~$30,000 UEV platform (2027 launch) and in-house electrical architecture, targeting Model e breakeven in 2029.
Warranty, quality and the cost gap	persisted	Q3 2023, Q2 2025, Q3 2025, Q4 2025, Q1 2026, Q2 2026	A multi-year effort framed as the single biggest lever to close the peer cost gap. Coverage costs improved earlier; recall/FSA benefits lag. By 2026 management pointed to a #1 J.D. Power initial-quality finish and recalls down ~40%, funding roughly $1 billion a year in material and warranty savings.
Tariffs and trade policy	emerged	Q4 2024, Q1 2025, Q2 2025, Q3 2025, Q4 2025, Q1 2026, Q2 2026	First flagged as a risk in late 2024, quantified at about a $2 billion net headwind in 2025, then partly offset by U.S.-content credits (a one-time IEEPA benefit of $1.3 billion booked in Q1 2026). By 2026 ongoing tariffs of about $1 billion are described as part of run-rate cost, with USMCA the next policy swing factor.
Novelis aluminum supply disruption	emerged	Q3 2025, Q4 2025, Q1 2026, Q2 2026	A plant fire in late 2025 became a dominant operational topic: temporary aluminum-sourcing costs (guided at $1.5–2 billion), lost F-Series/Super Duty volume, and a promised net ~$1 billion year-over-year EBIT improvement weighted to the back half of 2026 as the hot mill restarts.
Ford Energy (battery energy storage)	emerged	Q4 2025, Q1 2026, Q2 2026	A new adjacency launched around late 2025, reporting through Model e, built on U.S. LFP battery manufacturing. Management targets ~20 GWh of capacity by late next year, frames it as a short-payback strategic business, and cites early customer contracting (e.g., an EDF agreement).
Off-road and passion-product mix	persisted	Q2 2025, Q3 2025, Q4 2025, Q1 2026, Q2 2026	Raptor, Bronco and Tremor/off-road trims are repeatedly cited as a margin engine, growing from roughly 20% toward 25% of U.S. sales mix, and reinforced by regulatory changes that let Ford lean into higher-margin, previously compliance-constrained trims.
"From America, For America" sales campaign	dropped	Q2 2025	A tariff-era, U.S.-built marketing push emphasized in mid-2025 (a "second phase" was referenced on the Q2 2025 call, implying prior recurrence). It did not appear in the subsequent four calls read, consistent with the acute tariff-pricing moment normalizing into ordinary go-to-market discipline.

Guidance ledger

Quotes, calls, and speakers are source-verified; outcomes are curator-classified.

Verbatim guidance	Call	Speaker	Curator outcome	Outcome note
“We are also raising and narrowing our full year adjusted EBIT guidance to between $10 billion and $11 billion, a $1 billion raise at the midpoint.”	Ford Motor Company, Q2 2026 Earnings Call, Jul 28, 2026 · 2026-07-28T21:00:00	James Farley	pending	Latest FY2026 EBIT guide; the 2026 fiscal year was not complete as of this call.
“An increase in adjusted free cash flow to $6 billion to $7 billion”	Ford Motor Company, Q2 2026 Earnings Call, Jul 28, 2026 · 2026-07-28T21:00:00	Sherry House	pending	Raised from the prior $5–6 billion FY2026 free-cash-flow guide; full-year result not yet available.
“we're raising our full year adjusted EBIT guidance to between $8.5 billion and $10.5 billion.”	Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, Q1 2026 Earnings Call, Apr 29, 2026 · 2026-04-29T21:00:00	James Farley	pending	Raised from the Q4 2025 initial $8–10 billion FY2026 guide, and raised again to $10–11 billion at Q2 2026.
“we expect company adjusted EBIT of $8 billion to $10 billion, adjusted free cash flow of $5 billion to $6 billion and capital expenditures of $9.5 billion to $10.5 billion”	Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, Q4 2025 Earnings Call, Feb 10, 2026 · 2026-02-10T22:00:00	Sherry House	pending	Initial FY2026 guide; subsequently raised to $8.5–10.5 billion (Q1 2026) and $10–11 billion (Q2 2026).
“We expect losses of $4 billion to $4.5 billion for Ford Model e.”	Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, Q4 2025 Earnings Call, Feb 10, 2026 · 2026-02-10T22:00:00	Sherry House	pending	By Q2 2026 management expected the FY2026 Model e loss to improve to about $4 billion; full-year result pending.
“This brings our updated adjusted EBIT guidance for 2025 to between $6 billion to $6.5 billion with adjusted free cash flow of between $2 billion and $3 billion.”	Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, Q3 2025 Earnings Call, Oct 23, 2025 · 2025-10-23T21:00:00	Sherry House	kept	FY2025 came in at $6.8 billion adjusted EBIT (stated on the Q4 2025 call), modestly above this range, with full-year free cash flow of $3.5 billion, above the $2–3 billion guide.
“we expect company adjusted EBIT of $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion, adjusted free cash flow of $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion and capital expenditures of about $9 billion.”	Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, Q2 2025 Earnings Call, Jul 30, 2025 · 2025-07-30T21:00:00	Sherry House	kept	FY2025 adjusted EBIT of $6.8 billion landed within this range, even after a mid-year cut to $6–6.5 billion following the Novelis fire.

Q&A pressure map

Question counts and firms are curator tallies; analyst coverage shown above.

Topic	Questions	Firms	Pressure / response
Guidance bridge and second-half / 2027 EBIT cadence	7	Wolfe Research, Morgan Stanley, TD Cowen, Wells Fargo	The most persistent line of questioning across recent calls: why raises were modest, why the implied second-half run-rate steps down, and whether 2027 improves. Management repeatedly pointed to timing, mix, commodity cadence and launch investment rather than a change in underlying demand.
Novelis aluminum recovery — timing, cost and volume makeup	6	UBS, Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, Barclays	Analysts pressed on the hot-mill restart date, the size and phasing of temporary costs, and how much lost F-Series/Super Duty volume would be recovered. Management gave a restart window and stressed contingency aluminum supply and a net ~$1 billion improvement.
Tariffs, USMCA and mitigation	5	Goldman Sachs, UBS, RBC Capital Markets, Barclays	Recurring focus on the net tariff figure, the IEEPA parts credit, and USMCA. Ford emphasized its U.S. manufacturing footprint as an advantage but stayed non-specific on mitigation details.
Model e / EV losses and capital efficiency	4	Barclays, Wolfe Research, RBC Capital Markets, Deutsche Bank	Questions centered on how EV losses trend as volumes are cut and how the new UEV investment differs from prior capital-inefficient EV spend. On the Q3 2025 call, asked how to think about EV losses into next year, Farley deferred to a post-Q4 update, calling them "very big decisions for the company" — a plain non-answer to the specific modeling question.
Warranty, quality and the peer cost gap	4	Barclays, Goldman Sachs	Analysts repeatedly asked when quality gains would show up materially in warranty and recall costs. Management distinguished coverage (improving) from recall/FSA costs (longer lag), and by 2026 cited recalls down ~40% and a #1 initial-quality finish.
Ford Energy — customers, contracting and capacity	4	Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase	As the new adjacency scaled, analysts probed customer identity, contracting pace and whether to add capacity. Management characterized demand as strong and contracting as early ("third inning" of selling 2028 capacity) while withholding specifics.

Language shifts

Only language evidence verified against the referenced component is shown.

Observation	Verbatim evidence	Call ID	Component
Rising confidence: by Q2 2026 management moved from describing a turnaround-in-progress to asserting the strategy is proven and the company is structurally different.	“Ford is becoming a more profitable, more disciplined and generally a different company.”	2008501281	2
A new macro-risk caveat entered the guidance language in 2026, explicitly carving out Middle East conflict and a U.S. downturn from the outlook — vocabulary not present in the mid-2025 calls.	“Our guidance does not include the potential impacts of a sustained conflict in the Middle East or a significant downturn in the U.S. economy, which could have a material impact on industry demand.”	1991429165	3
The EV tone hardened from the mid-2025 "Model T moment" enthusiasm to explicit acknowledgment of adverse market reality and a strategic retreat to affordable volume.	“We dealt decisively with the reality of the market and shifted our focus of our EV business to a high-volume, affordable end of the market.”	1979541969	2
Quality commentary shifted from lagging-indicator caution to concrete, quantified improvement, signaling firmer confidence in the warranty thesis.	“the number of recalls is down very substantially from last year. It's down about 40%.”	2008501281	29

Across twelve quarters the call history shows a cost-and-quality turnaround steadily converting into raised guidance and, in 2025, into numbers that met or modestly beat plan. The swing factors are external and operational — tariffs and the Novelis aluminum disruption — while the 2027-plus story increasingly rests on less-proven adjacencies (Ford Energy, the UEV platform) and a still-loss-making Model e. Notably, management has repeatedly declined to commit to a 2027 EBIT direction, which keeps the durability of the improvement the central open question for the investment debate.