With the tariffs about to hit in a big way with May 3’s imminent arrival—a little less than two weeks out—legacy automaker Ford (F) took matters into its own hands. It prepared a whole new ad campaign designed to, once again, appeal to the American spirit and remind everybody—including President Donald Trump—that Ford is all-American. The move may have helped, as investors sent shares up nearly 2% in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
Ford had already been working the Big America angle in its advertising, thanks to the From America, For America campaign. That was also where Ford brought out the employee pricing for all plan. And while that was doing pretty well, apparently, it was not doing so well in terms of stopping the burning freight train of tariffs that was barreling down on Ford like it had been dropped from low Earth orbit.
Thus, Ford has stepped up its advertising, not only as a way to call attention to its sheer America-ness, but also to reassure investors that it can actually weather a lot of the incoming tariffs, as they do not apply. Ford was not alone here, either, as Stellantis (STLA) and even Toyota (TM) were offering up such ads. Oddly absent from the ad blitz was General Motors (GM), who had no ads running talking about vehicle prices or about its America-ness.
A Recall over Two Broncos
As interesting as the sudden ad blitz was, there was another matter that came up that proved a surprise. Though a Ford recall is, these days, about as inevitable as, say, Thursday is, the surprise here was the size of the recall. Two. Two Ford Broncos were subject to recall recently, to the point where they had a “do not drive” warning attached to them.
A combination of security cameras and careful analysis provided the insight on which two Broncos had the issue: a “…missing or improperly torqued nut on the ball joint that connected the front upper control arm to the steering knuckle assembly,” reports noted. But those two units have apparently been tracked down, though contacts have not yet gone out. Repairs for the pair, however, will be free.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on three Buys, nine Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 19.87% loss in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $9.46 per share implies 1.71% downside risk.
