DETROIT, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co on Wednesday posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on strong U.S. demand for pickups and SUVs, and forecast a full-year profit instead of a loss.

Ford reported net income in the third quarter of $2.4 billion, or 60 cents a share, compared with $400 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, Ford's profit was $3.6 billion, or 65 cents a share, topping the 19 cents analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected. (Reporting by Ben Klayman and Paul Lienert in Detroit Editing by Matthew Lewis)