Congratulations Ford

(NYT) DETROIT -- The Ford Motor Company earned $2.7 billion in 2009 and said Thursday that it now expected to be profitable in 2010 as well.

The profit for 2009, equal to 86 cents a share, was a swing of $17.5 billion from 2008, when the company lost $14.8 billion. It is Ford's first full-year profit since 2005.

The company ended 2009 with $25.5 billion in cash reserves, nearly twice the $13.4 billion it had at the start of the year.

It also expects positive cash flow and an operating profit in 2010, which is a year sooner than executives had previously said the company would become consistently profitable.

"It really is pivotal and historic," Ford's chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, said on a conference call with analysts and reporters, "that during the worst economic recession in 30 or 40 years, because of the strength of the plan we put in place a few years ago, we were not only able to survive but also to create a foundation that is delivering now profitable growth during that year."