Ford Motor's Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks told CNBC on Friday that its earning miss had three distinct causes—currencies, weather and warranties.
In an interview with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," Shanks said the automaker funneled $400 million into North American warranty reserves to keep them in line with historical data and increasing numbers of recalls, not because of specific problems or vehicle lines. The $400 million expense played a big role in the No. 2 U.S. automaker's earnings miss, Shanks said.
"We saw more recalls over the last several years," he said. "We follow a model that is purely driven by data and we had to increase the reserves based on what we've seen in our history. It's nothing specific about the future, no specific problem or vehicle lines. We're getting those reserves where history tells us they should be."
Shanks blamed weakening currencies in Venezuela and Argentina for affecting balance sheets there, costing hundreds of millions. Also, he added, the harsh North American winter disrupted operations and racked up premium costs that Ford needed to pay in order to keep production moving.
Excluding one-time items for European restructuring, Ford earned 25 cents a share, 6 cents below analysts' estimates in a poll by Thomson Reuters, or about the same amount as the warranty reserves. Revenues at Ford were $33.9 billion for the quarter, slightly less than expectations.
After the earnings announcement, the company's shares fell more than 3 percent Friday. (Click here for the latest quote.)
"Even though they missed, Europe looked a lot better than we expected," Stifel Nicolaus auto analyst James Albertine told CNBC, right after results were announced.
"Ford bet the farm, to some degree, on the F-150. The Silverado and Sierra sales have not been strong," he continued. "If they are a success in that product line ... that could really change the dynamics here and make it a multiyear head start for Ford."
Albertine has a hold on Ford but said he's considering raising his rating on the stock based on what he's seen in Ford's earnings report.
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The losses in Europe were significantly less than expected, Albertine told CNBC's "Squawk Box," adding that Ford is the best positioned to take advantage of an improving economic situation in Europe and could post break-even results there this year, which would be ahead of schedule.
Net income fell 39 percent to $989 million, or 24 cents a share, from $1.61 billion, or 40 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The quarter included $400 million in additional costs for warranty reserves in North America for vehicles from as early as the 2001 model year, and $100 million in costs related to higher freight and other items due to the quarter's harsh winter.
It also included previously disclosed costs of $400 million, mostly due to the currency devaluation in Venezuela.
While Ford maintained guidance for the full year, it did raise guidance on China sales. The automaker has been one of the best-performing car manufacturers, helped in large part by soaring sales in China. Ford is planning to open several China-based Lincoln retail outlets this year and will gradually expand to 60 stores in the country.
"The U.S. [at Ford]—we've seen now in March and we're hearing in April—is actually stronger than people would have thought leaving last year," Albertine said.
"Rates haven't gone up," he continued. "So the concerns there around auto lending were premature. I think we're on track for a 16.25 million car year, which is about 4 percent growth."
With Ford expected to make a CEO change, Albertine said he thinks the company's future is strong because of Alan Mulally's "terrific" nearly eight-year tenure.
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"He's sort of retrained the culture," he argued. "It really has unified the global effort to production."
Sources have told CNBC that Ford will soon announce Ford Chief Operating Officer Mark Fields as the next CEO, though an exact date for the announcement has not been set.
—By CNBC's Jeff Morganteen and Matthew J. Belvedere. Reuters contributed to this report.