Ford earnings top expectations as North American sales soar

Ford Motor delivered quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations on Tuesday, helped by continued strength of its North American sales.

The second largest U.S. automaker posted second-quarter earnings of 47 cents per share, up from 40 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Revenue rose to $37.3 billion from $35.37 billion a year ago.

Wall Street had expected the company to deliver quarterly earnings per share of 37 cents on $35.34 billion in revenue, according to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters.

Shares of Ford moved higher in premarket trading following the announcement. 

Ford maintained its full-year 2015 forecast of an operating profit of between $8.5 billion to $9.5 billion.

The company downgraded its forecast for 2015 China auto sales to a 23 million to 24 million range from a 24.5 million to 26.5 million range.

Ford's U.S. June auto sales came in higher than some had expected when they were released earlier this month, but the company's sales in China, the world's largest auto market, were flat through the first half of the year. 

Ford announced a new car-sharing program last week aimed at exposing potential customers to Ford vehicles. The program allows 26,000 Ford Motor Credit customers to rent out their car, SUV or truck and is planned to include six U.S. cities and London.

Ford recalled more than 400,000 vehicles in North America at the beginning of July for a defect that lead to engines staying on even after the ignition key was turned to the "off" position.

—Reuters contributed to this report.