If legacy automaker Ford Motor Co. (F) was hoping that its new battery manufacturing plant in Kentucky would launch without a lot of labor issues, those hopes were dashed with news that the United Auto Workers (UAW) has made a major advance.
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The report said that workers at the new Ford plant in Kentucky have returned signed cards with the UAW in sufficient numbers for the union to have a majority. In fact, while the UAW did not mention exactly what percentage of workers were now union members, the UAW did say that it holds a “supermajority.”
This is part of a larger push from the UAW, which invested $40 million into pulling in new, formerly non-union operations like Toyota (TM) and Tesla (TSLA). The battery plant in Kentucky, known as Blue Oval SK, is a partnership between South Korea’s SK On and Ford. It also represents a big win for the UAW, which needs this foothold in new vehicle technology in the face of declining membership numbers.
Ford and Trump
In other news, we have seen, in the last couple of weeks, plenty of coverage about what businesses are thinking about Donald Trump making a political comeback. Ford is no different on that front, as a report said the company seems to be staying the course.
Ford’s green ambitions are likely to stay on the back-burner for the foreseeable future, especially with electric vehicle subsidies off the table. But Ford said that its strength is in its current line-up, its gas, diesel, and hybrid systems. Ford’s foray into electric vehicles has never been particularly large, so downplaying those cars for a while will likely cause little disturbance.
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 12.88% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $11.75 per share implies 8.65% upside potential.
