So the news suggests that January sales for legacy automaker Ford (F) were not great. There were, however, some reasons behind that that may not even have been in Ford’s ability to control. Investors, though, were not in a charitable mood, and sent Ford shares down nearly 1.5% in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Under normal conditions, January is a slow sales month. Between the holidays recently concluded—and their attendant blow to the pocketbook of everyone involved—as well as poor weather that really is not conducive to walking around a used car lot, January starts out bad. When you throw in the unseasonable cold weather that many places saw—when you see snow in New Orleans, you know something has gone very wrong—along with the California wildfires, it is clear that “normal” is off the table.
All of this together combined to put the hurt on sales. Gas- and diesel-powered vehicle sales slipped 9.4%, and given that gas and diesel vehicles represent 87% of Ford’s overall sales, any loss there is hard felt. Several individual models lost ground, including the Escape, down 9.1%, and even the venerable Explorer slid 28%. The only two high points were Bronco, up 22%, and the Mustang Mach-E, up 173%.
With Good Reason, Too
A recent report from Forbes detailed a Mustang Mach-E test drive, and with that in mind, it might explain why there has been so much interest in this car. The report notes that the new 2025 Mustang Mach-E includes a heat pump option, which should help the car from getting so cold inside that it is undriveable, and some other changes like ventilated front seats and the BlueCruise system.
The test drive report, meanwhile, describes a machine that looks about as good as it feels, and feels pretty good as well. That is good news for Ford, who can certainly use a top seller. It also explains why sales surged nearly 200% in what should have been the worst car shopping month of the year, basically.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on one Buy, six Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 8.26% loss in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.47 per share implies 5.17% upside potential.
