Later today, legacy automaker Ford (F) will be rolling out its earnings report, and analysts are already looking for certain values to come out of the report when it hits. But there is more going on than just numbers ahead of earnings, and investors are cautiously optimistic, sending shares up fractionally in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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The numbers, of course, are the highlight, and LSEG estimates are looking for an earnings per share figure of $0.33 per share, adjusted, and overall automotive revenue of $43.02 billion. Sounds great, but the reports note that that represents a 0.5% drop in revenue against the fourth quarter of 2023.
Ford is already under pressure to deliver results, as immediate competitor General Motors (GM) delivered on its own fourth quarter numbers, and also offered up a positive outlook for 2025, with guidance either at or above what analysts were looking for. But Ford faced a 2024 that was packed with costly recalls and warranty issues, so it may be about to take a punch.
Plenty of Change Afoot
The numbers are a bit dismaying, but Ford may be able to turn things around on the strength of its future projections. It has quite a few changes in line to bring out, starting with a huge shakeup in personnel. For instance, John Lowler will be out of the chief financial officer slot, with his job taken over by vice president of finance Sherry House. Lawler, meanwhile, will focus on strategy and corporate development. Ford also has a new chief strategy officer in Marin Gjaja.
Ford is also cutting its production target on the F-150 Lightning electric pickup. With demand in open decline, Ford is pushing back the start date on its second-generation models of the F-150 Lightning. In fact, the F-150 Lightning may not even be called that any more. Reports note that the future versions of the electric pickup may no longer be called F-150 Lightning any more. But for now, Ford looks to produce “less than 100,000” models, down substantially from the 300,000 originally projected.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on one Buy, six Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 9.26% loss in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.47 per share implies 2.35% upside potential.
