Normally when we describe “Ford” around here, we start by using the phrase “legacy automaker Ford (F).” So when Ford revealed today that it has a grand new aspiration for the future of office space, that seemed like, perhaps, a bridge too far. Or maybe someone’s AI was hallucinating. But no, Ford does have a great idea for the future of office space, and it plans to pursue it. Investors, meanwhile, were more interested in what Ford could do with cars instead, and sent Ford shares down fractionally in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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Ford’s grand vision starts with a 100-year-old building on Ford’s own campus: a former engineering lab. The building was originally designed for research and development, Ford has instead recast it into a modern office, one that Ford looks to apply as “…a model for its new global workspace standards.” Given that Ford has a combined total of 300 million square feet of offices, located across 46 countries, having such a model could be useful.
So how does the Ford model differ from just about any other office? Ford’s offering focuses on “small modular meeting rooms,” along with clusters of desks devoted to small teams. There are also independent chairs located throughout that are perhaps more like those seen in a hotel lobby. Ford is asserting that it is no longer a “culture of desks,” but rather, an operation that realizes work no longer strictly needs to be done at a desk. Why it could not realize this a little further, use more remote work, and sell off that square footage for cash instead is unclear.
Got an Extra $300,000? Get a New Ford Supercar
Meanwhile, Ford is hammering the “no boring cars” credo like the testing floor of a nail factory. New reports say that Ford is considering building a new kind of supercar for the off-road market, one that will reportedly have a price tag of $300,000.
Ford has considered getting into the supercar market before, and made some initial measurements in that direction, a Bloomberg report noted. And Ford CEO Jim Farley is increasingly dismayed with the supercar market, saying that he is “nauseated” by it. In fact, Farley believes the supercar market is becoming rather boring, and we know how Jim Farley feels about boring cars. Thus, Ford is starting to map out a new kind of car, one that has supercar performance, but can take it off-road.
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, eight Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 6.73% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.77 per share implies 6.39% downside risk.
