SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ford Motor Co. shares jumped 10% Thursday after the automaker said it swung to a surprise second-quarter profit on the back of a lighter debt load, market-share gains and vastly improved cash flow.

Ford /quotes/comstock/13*!f/quotes/nls/f (F 7.00, +0.62, +9.75%) stock was up 64 cents at $7.02 in early trades and has risen more than 200% since the beginning of the year even as the company's top two domestic competitors both made their way through bankruptcy court.

Ford has benefited in the court of public opinion this year as the only one of the Detroit Three to avoid hitting up the government for financial lifelines.

The company also secured the necessary loans by mortgaging its assets to overhaul its business in 2006 before the bottom fell out of the U.S. car market, which left General Motors Co. and Chrysler running out of cash and on the brink of liquidation.

For the second quarter, the Dearborn, Mich.-based vehicle manufacturer said it earned $2.3 billion, or 69 cents a share, vs. a loss of $8.7 billion, or $3.89 a share in the year-ago period.

The latest period included a one-time gain of $3.4 billion related to Ford and Ford Credit's debt reduction moves.

On an after-tax basis, excluding special items, Ford posted a second-quarter operating loss of $638 million, or 21 cents a share compared with a loss of $1.4 billion, or 63 cents a share a year ago.

Revenue fell by $11 billion to $27.2 billion.

Analysts had expected a loss, on average, of 49 cents a share with revenue of $24.8 billion, according to a survey by FactSet Research.

KDP Advisor credit analyst Kip Penniman said the results topped his target and that he expects to increase his earnings estimates.

"We continue to be impressed with CEO Mulally's aggressive efforts to restructure Ford and drive product improvements," he said.

Ford said it remains on track, based on current planning assumptions, to recover from last year's record loss of $14.7 billion and achieve profitability in 2011.

As part of its transformation, Ford is focusing on smaller cars while moving away from some of the bigger trucks and SUVs that brought in big profits years ago.

"While the business environment remained extremely challenging around the world, we made significant progress on our transformation plan," CEO Alan Mulally said. "Our underlying business is growing progressively stronger as we introduce great new products that customers want and value, while continuing to aggressively restructure our business and strengthen our balance sheet."

Ford's vehicles sales in the key U.S. market fared much better than the competition in June but were still down 10.9% to 155,195 cars and trucks. GM sales fell 33% and Chrysler dropped 42% during the same month.

Ford was able to cut its cash burn rate to $1 billion during the quarter, down from the $3.7 billion it burned through in the first quarter and leaving its automotive cash pile at $21 billion.