Ford fourth-quarter earnings fall on Venezuela charge as revenue declines

Ford's net income tumbled to $52 million in the fourth quarter because of trouble at its Venezuelan operations.

Ford's earnings, of a penny per share, compared with earnings of 75 cents per share in the fourth quarter a year ago.

Without one-time items, including the Venezuela charge and separation payments in Europe, Ford earned $1.1 billion in the quarter, down 15 percent from a year ago.

Pretax earnings of 26 cents per share beat Wall Street's forecast of 22 cents per share, according to FactSet.

Fourth-quarter revenue fell 4.5 percent to $35.9 billion.

For the full year, Ford earnings fell 56 percent to $3.2 billion, or 80 cents per share.

Dearborn-based Ford had repeatedly warned that its profits would be down in 2014 as it introduced 24 new vehicles.