DETROIT – Some more signs that the auto downturn may be turning around. Ford Motor Co. on Thursday reported a profitable second quarter and slowed its cash burn amid speculation that the auto maker may issue more equity to reduce its debt.

Ford reported a net income of $2.3 billion or 69 cents a share, compared with a loss of $8.67 billion, or $3.89 a share, for the same period a year earlier. The company burned through about $1 billion in cash during the quarter as it controlled incentive spending around the world while increasing output in its North American plants, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Ford’s profit came largely from a $3.4 billion gain it received related to debt-restructuring actions in April. Excluding the one-time gains, the company would have narrowed its quarterly loss to $424 million from a loss of $1.03 billion a year earlier.

On a regional basis, Ford North America narrowed its pre-tax loss to $851 million from a loss of $1.3 billion a year earlier, while Ford Europe — traditionally its strongest segment — saw its pre-tax profit shrink to $138 million from $582 million a year earlier. Last quarter, the North America unit reported and an operating loss of $637 million while Europe had a $550 million loss.

Excluding some items, the company posted a loss of 21 cents which exceeded the 50-cent average loss estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

“While the business environment remained extremely challenging around the world, we made significant progress on our transformation plan,” said Ford President and Chief Executive Alan Mulally in a statement.

This is the first quarterly profit for the Dearborn, Mich.-based auto maker after posting four consecutive quarterly losses. Ford said revenue dropped to $27.2 billion, compared to $38.6 billion for the same time period a year earlier.

While the results show some improvement, Ford remains in a precarious spot as it continues losing billions of dollars as it waits for a rebound in the world-wide economy. The company refused U.S. federal aid and filing for bankruptcy, which may have created consumer goodwill but has allowed Chrysler Group LLC to merge with Fiat SpA and General Motors Co. to dump about $40 billion in debt.

“On our debt, we are right following on plan exactly,” Mulally said on the sidelines of Ford’s product event on Tuesday. “We have a sufficient amount of liquidity to finance our entire transformation.”

a>>