Ford Motor Co. shocked analysts with an unexpected first-quarter profit of $100 million as reduced operating expenses made up for a decline in U.S. sales, Bloomberg reported.

The company’s net income for the quarter was 5 cents per share, compared with a loss of $282 million, or 15 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenues rose 1.2 percent to $43.5 billion.

Over the past two years, the company had amassed $15.3 billion in losses, with only one profitable quarter. Ford was expected to report a loss of 15 cents per share in the first quarter, according to the average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The company’s pretax loss for its North American operations fell to $45 million from $613 million a year ago. Ford has cut 46,300 jobs in the region over the past two years and last year negotiated a new labor contract to reduce its U.S. labor expenses, with most of the cost savings yet to take effect. The company said today that an additional 4,200 United Auto Workers union employees accepted buyouts during the quarter.

Meanwhile, sales of Ford cars and light trucks in the United States fell 9 percent in the quarter, compared with an industrywide decline of 8 percent.

Globally, the company had a pretax profit of $257 million in South America, $739 million in Europe, and $1 million in Asia Pacific and Africa, all of which were huge increases from the year-ago period.