Ford Financials May Look “A Bit Lumpy”; Ford Stock (NYSE:F) Notches Up Despite Unexpected Hiccups

When the chief financial officer of a legacy automaker like Ford (F) says that financials may look “a bit lumpy” going forward, that is likely the kind of thing that makes shareholders reconsider their holdings. But Ford shareholders were ready to give Ford the benefit of the doubt after a recent interview between analysts and Ford CFO Sherry House. Sufficient benefit, in fact, to send shares ticking up fractionally in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.

House was asked about the impact of supply chain issues and tariffs on Ford’s vehicle production. And House did respond, though would likely have more to say about it next month when Ford releases its second-quarter earnings. In fact, House noted, there are a lot of things that are, to this day, still unknown ahead of that earnings report. Those unknowns would make Ford’s financials “a bit lumpy,” she noted.

In fact, House expressed a certain amount of doubt on even being able to provide guidance to begin with. House noted “…if we give guidance it will be in the caveats of what we can’t define. If we don’t, we’re going to give you every piece of information that we feel can to help you, other analysts and investors to understand the business as much as possible.” But Ford was working to develop “…alternate parts or alternate ways to get things,” which is good practice under general circumstances.

Big New Recall

And, once more, Ford found itself the subject of another recall. This time, nearly half a million Ford Explorers, made between June 11, 2015 and April 19, 2017. This means model years 2016 and 2017 were impacted, and 492,145 vehicles in total were involved.

Reports note that part of the door trim can actually come loose while the vehicle is in motion, and can “cause a dangerous road hazard,” noted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ford actually knew about this back in 2019, reports noted, but at the time, did not think it was an “…unreasonable risk to safety.” Yet, once Ford heard about “dozens” of owners reporting a problem, Ford launched an investigation, and decided to stage a recall afterward.

Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on two Buys, 12 Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 15.58% loss in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $9.71 per share implies 5.31% downside risk.

See more F analyst ratings

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