Legacy automaker Ford (F) landed quite a plum not so long ago with plans to help the United States Postal Service (USPS) convert its vehicles to electric ones. However, that plan may not go through after all, thanks to a fundamental change in the government with the upcoming Trump administration. The news did little to dampen investor enthusiasm, though, as shares were up fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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A report from Benzinga noted that the post office’s contracts with Ford may be out the window once Trump steps back into the White House. Currently, the transition team is already looking into how these contracts can be shut down, though the report notes that actually shutting down the contracts will likely be “legally challenging.” The post office has its own governing board, after all, which makes it at least partially out of the government’s hands.
Back in 2023, Congress gave the post office $3 billion for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, a bill that Trump would likely like to see taken back. Especially since he campaigned on pulling us back from the electrification rush that the Biden administration set the United States on to begin with. And with Trump also looking into shutting down a federal tax credit on electric vehicles, the news does not look especially good on that front either.
BYD Still Gaining
Any hope that Ford might be able to fend off BYD (BYDDF) this year is rapidly dwindling, according to a report from Teslarati. BYD is closing in on four million vehicles sold, which represents a 40% surge against this time last year. With Ford so far standing at 3.3 million cars, and expected to tack on another million to that number by the end of the year, it may not be able to outdo its Chinese rivals.
Worse still, BYD is also on track to outpace Honda (HMC). Honda has already sold 3.11 million units, and current projections look for it to match the pace it showed off last year. Since it failed to sell over four million units in 2023, it will likely fail to cross that threshold again this year, and that will mean BYD claims another victim in the sales race.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on Ford stock based on four Buys, eight Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 3.61% rally in its share price over the past year, the average Ford price target of $11.04 per share implies 4.15% upside potential.
