A jury in Georgia has ruled against Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) in a lawsuit involving its F-250 pickup truck, a report published by The Wall Street Journal said. The automaker faces punitive damages of $1.7 billion following the rollover accident of its pickup truck in April 2014 that killed two people.
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According to the Gwinnett County jury, Ford sold 5.2 million units of the Super Duty pickup trucks with extremely weak and defectively designed roofs. These trucks were manufactured between 1999 and 2016.
The lawsuit involved a 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck, which rolled over when its right front tire blew, crushing the couple sitting inside.
The court’s verdict of $1.7 billion is said to be one of the biggest in the history of Georgia and exceptionally high for an accident-related lawsuit involving an automaker.
Meanwhile, the Michigan-based automotive giant plans to appeal the verdict. The company said, “We don’t believe the verdict is supported by the evidence.”
Is Ford a Buy or Sell Stock?
On TipRanks, Ford has a Hold consensus rating, which is based on four Buys, 10 Holds, and one Sell. The rating comes after three analysts recently reiterated a Hold on the stock. These analysts include Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Itay Michaeli of Citigroup (NYSE: C), and Adrian Yanoshik of Berenberg Bank.
While Jonas has a price target of $14 (11.8% downside potential) on Ford, Michaeli’s and Yanoshik’s price targets stand at $16 (0.8% upside potential) and $17 (7.1% % upside potential), respectively. This brings Ford’s average stock prediction to $15.56 (2% downside potential).
Is Ford a Long-Term Buy?
Ford scores a nine out of 10 on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, implying that the stock has strong potential to outperform market expectations. Further, bloggers and hedge funds on TipRanks are positively inclined toward Ford, suggesting that the stock could be a good long-term investment option.
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