From Detroit Free Press

DETROIT -- Hold your horses.

That seemed to be the message Friday on Wall Street, after shares of Ford Motor Co. surged Thursday when it disclosed a surprise $100-million profit.

Shares gained from a low of $4.95 in mid-March to close Thursday at $8.40.

But automotive analysts warned that while they like what Ford is doing, the stock price might be getting too high, given the point in Ford's turnaround.

Ford spokesmen had no comment on the stock performance.

The automaker is restructuring its business after losing a combined $15.3 billion in the past two years.

Enthusiasm over the company's progress, fueled by favorable news coverage, has pushed the stock to gain 70 percent in less than a month, and that's just too far, too fast, said Peter Nesvold of Bear Stearns.

"We continue to believe that Alan Mulally & Co. are doing a terrific job with the turnaround," Nesvold said in a note to clients. "However, we need to separate the company from the stock; we recommend using this rally to prudently take near-term profits."

Other analysts voiced similar opinions, and Ford stock spent the day sliding downward. It fell 90 cents, or 10.7 percent, to close Friday at $7.50.

Himanshu Patel of J.P. Morgan also downgraded Ford shares Friday.

"With the stock now nearing fair-value, we downgrade our recommendation" from buy to hold, he wrote in a note to investors.

Excluding special charges, Ford reported earnings per share of 20 cents in the first quarter.

However, Patel said that after he scrubbed the earnings for "various accounting one-offs," he concluded the so-called clean earnings were closer to 9 cents.

He also issued this caution on the automaker's earnings: "Ford has a history of reporting unsustainably strong first quarter North American profits."

Another analyst, Patrick Archambault of Goldman Sachs, also took issue with Ford's reporting.

Ford's first-quarter "cost performance was somewhat overstated by $450 million in benefits from ... warranty reserve adjustments and benefits from commodity hedging."

He also observed that Ford's "turnaround is now increasingly dependent on cost performance."

In the end, though, Archambault said he was still positive about Ford's performance and underlying fundamentals, raising his price target on Ford to $9 from $7.25.