Ford Motor Stock Faces Mixed Analyst Ratings Amid Price Target Revisions

Despite outperforming the overall market in the most recent session and maintaining a dividend yield of 6.25%, Ford Motor Company’s stock has lately dropped due to analyst downgrades and anticipated profit declines.

Due to challenging market conditions, investors have been closely observing Ford Motor Company’s stock performance, which has been exhibiting deterioration in recent trading sessions. As it navigates a competitive automotive environment, the carmaker faces downgrades from analysts and diminishing profit predictions.

Ford Motor Company (F) finished at $9.61 in the most recent trading session, down 0.41% from the day before. Despite this drop, Ford’s performance outperformed the whole market. A more significant loss of 1.78% was recorded by the S&P 500 for the day. The technology-focused Nasdaq fell 2.61%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.99%.

In light of the company’s recent performance, Ford’s stock dropped 3.6% last month. This fall was less severe than the 15.76% loss in the auto-tires trucks sector. However, Ford’s performance was behind the S&P 500’s 3.48% decline over the same time frame. Market players are paying close attention to the company’s impending earnings release. Ford is expected to announce $0.07 per share in profits.

If achieved, this would indicate a significant 85.71% year-over-year drop. Estimates of revenue are also worrisome. According to the consensus estimate, $35.51 billion will be made. Compared to the same quarter last year, this number indicates a 10.99% drop. Analysts predict $1.37 profits per share and $166.15 billion in revenue for the entire year. According to these estimates, there will be -25.54% and -3.78% year-over-year changes, respectively. The majority of recent changes to Ford’s analyst estimates have been unfavorable. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has decreased 19.24% in the last month.

Performance of Businesses:

Growing apprehensions over Ford’s short-term financial performance and profitability prospects are reflected in this negative adjustment. Currently, the firm is ranked #4 on Zacks. Ford is now purchasing at a Forward P/E ratio of 7.03 from a value standpoint. Given that this is less than the industry average of 11.03, the stock could be cheap compared to its competitors.

The company’s PEG ratio is 0.67, lower than the 1.15 average for the domestic automotive industry. The PEG ratio gives standard P/E prices more context by accounting for predicted profit growth. Even more, pressure was placed on Ford’s stock during Tuesday’s midday session, when shares fell 2.5 percent. The stock closed at $9.16 after trading as low as $9.07.

Compared to the typical daily volume of around 78 million shares, the trading volume was about 50 million, a 36% decrease. Recently, several significant financial institutions have changed their assessments of Ford. Wells Fargo & Company kept their “underweight” rating while lowering their price objective from $9.00 to $8.00.

Similarly, the Royal Bank of Canada downgraded its goal from $10.00 to $9.00, giving the stock a “sector perform” rating. The price goal set by Evercore ISI was lowered from $11.00 to $10.00. Barclays lowered their price target from $13.00 to $11.00 and downgraded Ford from “overweight” to “equal weight.” The average price target is $11.89. The consensus among analysts is “Hold.”

Earnings Report:

Despite the challenging climate, Ford’s February 5th quarterly results release highlighted some encouraging signals—the company’s $0.39 earnings per share is above analysts’ $0.35 average forecast. The company’s quick and current ratios are 1.02 and 1.16, respectively, while its debt-to-equity ratio is 2.31. The current market value of Ford is at $38.07 billion.

A $0.15 quarterly dividend was just announced by the firm and distributed to stockholders of record as of February 18th on March 3. This translates to a yield of 6.25% and a yearly dividend of $0.60. As the manufacturer navigates difficulties in the automotive industry while retaining a sizable market presence with its variety of trucks, commercial vehicles, SUVs, and luxury Lincoln automobiles globally, investors continue to be interested in Ford Motor Company’s daily stock moves.