DETROIT, April 25 Reuters General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co will report firstquarter results this week in an environment that has become more hostile than executives projected when they last faced investors in January.
The farreaching economic impact of the war in Ukraine, grinding supplychain disruptions, inflation and rising U.S. interest rates all pose a threat to forecasts made by the two Detroit automakers in January.
Shares of both companies are down sharply since January. Downbeat results last week from used car sellers Carvana Co and Carmax Inc spooked investors concerned about inflation39;s impact on U.S. consumer spending.
GM projected in January it could improve wholesale deliveries by 25 to 30 over 2021, and predicted commodity and logistics costs would rise by 2.5 billion. The company said it expected to earn 13 billion to 15 billion in pretax profit.
We are not quite clear on whether there will be a small potential cut to top end of the 39;22 guide, Evercore ISI wrote in a note ahead of GM39;s firstquarter release scheduled for Tuesday.
As for Ford, which reports results on Wednesday, Evercore said it expects a cut to the 2022 outlook. One factor Evercore cited Ford39;s significant exposure to soaring prices for the aluminum used to build its bestselling F150 pickup and other vehicles.
In early March, Ford39;s chief financial officer, John Lawler, reaffirmed the company39;s forecast that it could generate 11.5 billion to 12.5 billion in pretax…