** Ford Motor F.N posted first-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat Wall Street's expectations, bolstered by a strong performance in its commercial vehicle division - called Pro - and an increase in its hybrid vehicle sales
** Shares up 2.32% to $13.25 in premarket trade
PRO DELIVERING; EV STILL A QUESTION
** Morgan Stanley ("overweight," PT: $17) says Ford's management understands that its current EV strategy is unsustainable, and hence expects co to make improvement in incremental invested capital employed by scaling back on EVs and protecting cash flow from Pro
** Brokerage forecasts Ford Pro's over $8bn EBIT to account for three-fourth of co's profit in 2024
** Piper Sandler ("," PT: $13) says unless Ford can prove it can sell EVs profitably, investors will continue discounting the stock's value
** RBC Capital Markets ("sector perform," PT: $13) says losses could worsen if EV prices keep falling; believes that this is partially why Ford is buying back stock as aggressively as its peers
** Jefferies ("hold," PT: $13) says Pro's strong mix reflects more than just seasonality with Ford doing better on its hybrid division Blue's pricing and further improvement in Pro
(Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bengaluru)