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Ford Motors will show its quarterly earnings next week. And Marketplace's Alisa Roth says the company might report a pleasant surprise.

Alisa Roth: It hasn't been a year since Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford, said he didn't need help from the government after all. And it's been one of the worst years for car sales in a long time. But Ford could turn a profit this quarter.

Alan Baum is an auto industry analyst in Michigan. And here's the main reason:

Alan Baum: The obvious thing is this includes the period of Cash for Clunkers.

But you have give Ford some credit: The company has also been trimming costs in a bunch of different ways. They've been doing everything from cutting production to renegotiating contracts. And people are buying Fords. Baum says the company's luring buyers the old fashioned way.

BAUM: They're putting out products people want, they have new products in the marketplace, they are adding features that people want.

David Silver follows the auto business at Wall Street Strategies. It's a research company.

David Silver: It's interesting. You know, that's probably the most optimistic view I've seen.

He says Ford's situation is improving. He says we might see a profit this quarter. But the company won't truly recover until next year.

I'm Alisa Roth for Marketplace.