Ford first-quarter profit falls, but beats Wall St estimates

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co on Thursday posted lower profit for the first quarter but beat analyst estimates as pickup truck sales remained strong in its core U.S. market.

The No. 2 U.S. automaker posted a quarterly net profit of $1.15 billion (892.03 million pounds), or 29 cents per share, down 34 percent from $1.74 billion, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, Ford earned 44 cents per share, above analysts' average estimate of 27 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Tom Brown)