Ford's outlook for the second quarter is improving, as the automaker is seeing strong customer reservations for four of its new vehicles.

Ford Motor Co. now anticipates its quarterly adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to top its expectations and be significantly better than the year-ago period.

Although there's still uncertainty around semiconductor supply, Ford is seeing improvement in its automotive business due to lower-than-expected costs and favorable market factors. It's also being helped by increased vehicle auction values.

President and CEO Jim Farley will take part in Deutsche Bank's Global Auto Industry Conference on Thursday afternoon. He will announce that reservations have climbed to 190,000 for the revived full-size Bronco SUV, with 125,000 of those already converted to orders. The vehicle is now in production. There's also 100,000 reservations for the battery-electric F-150 Lightning pickup; 36,000 for the new Maverick compact pickup and 20,000 for the all-electric E-Transit commercial van.

Ford is taking $100 refundable deposits for Bronco and Lightning reservations.

Ford is expected to announce its second-quarter results and provide an outlook for the second half of the year on July 28.