For a while, cars were difficult to come by. Dealer lots looked more like parking lots, and most spaces were wide open. But, after the pandemic, that started to shift and cars became tough to find again. That was not the case for legacy automaker Ford Motor Co. (F) and inventories on Ford vehicles are ticking higher.
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News reports state that dealer lots are starting to get full again. And Ford lots are shaping up to be more full than some expected. Ford inventory levels are currently among the industry’s highest, the report noted, and that is prompting concern.
Currently, car lots have, on average, 85 days’ worth of inventory. Lexus has 35 days worth of inventory. Ford has 119 days worth. And Lincoln, another Ford line, has 168 days worth of inventory. Ford has the sixth-highest inventory level among brands measured, and Lincoln is actually top of the heap by a 34-day margin.
Investigator Ford
Meanwhile, Ford is facing other issues as reports note that 44,000 customer records were found left behind for anyone to see. Ford, not surprisingly, did not intend to take that lying down and began an investigation into how its customer records got out of its hands.
Interestingly, the people who stole the data believed that no one would be interested in buying the information, so offered them up online for free. No one has been able to verify the validity of this information, so Ford will likely first have to find out if the information posted is even accurate.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on five Buys, 10 Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 14.13% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $11.75 per share implies 6.29% upside potential.
