Yesterday, when Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) announced layoffs, it actually took a hit to its share price. Today, however, Ford (NYSE:F) announced job cuts of its own, and investors were happy to see it. Though there’s not much difference between the two sets of cuts, Ford’s gave it a little bit of an edge in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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Ford announced that another group of engineers and other salary types are up for layoffs, with the total number somewhere in the thousand range. This is after Ford already dropped roughly 200 contract employees just a week ago. Most of the cuts focused on engineering, though every division—according to Ford rep T.R. Reid—would see some kind of cut take place. This also stems from remarks previously heard from CEO Jim Farley, who noted that large portions of Ford simply didn’t have the proper skills to move from internal combustion to electric vehicles.
The cuts won’t be limited to the United States, either; reports from Fox Business note that both the U.S. and Canada will have jobs on the chopping block. With a string of product recalls plaguing Ford in recent weeks and job cuts also extending into Europe, it’s clear that Ford is getting ready for significant changes and making some mistakes along the way. Hopefully, Ford will come out on the other side of this a better operation.
Analysts, meanwhile, aren’t so certain that will happen. With five Buy ratings, four Holds, and one Sell, this split decision leaves Ford stock a Moderate Buy. Further, Ford stock doesn’t have much upside potential to offer, either: its average price target of $14.88 gives it only 3.23% upside.
