Ford Motor Co said Tuesday it expects first quarter results to be lower, but shares jumped on as analyst upgraded the firm citing a brighter future.

Analyst Patrick Archambault of Goldman Sachs & Co raised Ford to a buy from neutral, citing the company will gain up to 58 percent market shares from likely bankrupt rivals General Motors Corp and Chrysler.

The stage is set for a sea change in the structure of the U.S. auto industry, he said. We do not foresee bankruptcy at Ford, which we believe has sufficient liquidity to make it through to 2010 without additional funding.

Meanwhile, Ford expects first quarter results on Friday’s will be lower than the average Reuters estimate of $1.24 loss per share on revenue of $22.1 billion

Citi Investment Research analyst Itay Michaeli also expects Ford will burn through $4 billion in the first quarter despite production and job cuts have paid off.

Recently, the company has completed its tender offer to reduce its debt by 38 percent, secured $9.9 billion and expects to save more than $500 million for this year.

It also reported its fourth quarter net loss of $5.9 billion, or $2.46 per share, and revenue fell 36 percent to $29.2 billion.

Shares rose nearly 24 percent in New York Stocks trading to 58 cents to 15.26 percent at $4.38.

Ford Motor Company Citigroup