“How far do you want the Apple (AAPL) brand to go?” That was the question legacy automaker Ford (F) CEO Jim Farley asked recently, as he revealed some concerns about Apple and its connection to Ford vehicles. This connection left investors a bit shaken, as Ford shares slipped fractionally in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
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Farley had some disturbing, if somewhat rhetorical, questions about the Apple connection to Ford when he spoke to The Verge recently. Farley asked, “Are you going to allow OEMs to control the vehicles? How far do you want the Apple brand to go? Do you want the Apple brand to start the car? Do you want the Apple brand to limit the speed? Do you want the Apple brand to limit access?”
This in turn could produce a lot of new and unexpected issues. While Ford has offered a certain number of new features using the Apple lineup—limiting maximum speeds during certain periods or limiting access altogether on weekends—the more features Apple brings out, the more potentially “messy” this will get. Ford disapproves of some of Apple’s “execution,” reports note, but by and large, Ford is very much in Apple’s corner.
Held Up Well
In a move that demonstrates Ford’s resilience, both on and off the track, Ford was recently the subject of some very positive remarks. Out at Kansas Speedway recently, during a NASCAR race, Zane Smith found his Ford, Number 38, the subject of a wreck. But once an at-track inspection of the car was done, the car proved to be much better than expected.
Normally, following such a wreck, the car would go to a location called the R&D Center for closer analysis, reports note. But this time around, the car was simply returned to Front Row Motorsports. As it turned out, nothing had been “bent” or was considered “abnormal,” so the car just went back to sender for repairs to come back later. After months of near-constant recalls, this is the kind of thing Ford’s marketing department could use.
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 17.42% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.84 per share implies 11.37% downside risk.
