Recently, legacy automaker Ford (F) has been calling a lot of attention to the “essential economy,” as CEO Jim Farley calls it. But as it turns out, Farley believes that those jobs have a greater connection to the rising field of artificial intelligence (AI) to the point where blue-collar jobs will be vital to the development of AI than anyone might have expected. Ford investors, meanwhile, are reasonably pleased about Farley pointing this out, and sent shares up fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Basically, Farley points out, blue-collar jobs are vital to the establishment and operation of artificial intelligence. It would be easy to wonder how this could possibly relate…until you consider the issue of infrastructure. We know that AI needs a lot of different things to run effectively, from power to coolant to chips. And all of these things generally do not come about without blue-collar jobs to make them take shape.
And this is a problem, as far as Farley is concerned. These major “backbone industries” have gotten short shrift when it comes to training funds and other support. Thus, Farley is sounding an alarm about their status, and how the United States is looking at an ongoing and serious shortage of these positions. That is a status which is likely to come back to haunt Americans—and America itself—down the line.
A Little Good Press
But looking at the more immediate picture, Ford managed to buy itself a little good press with one free truck. It would be easy to think that Detroit Lions wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa would have a certain preference in vehicles…and no, I do not mean General Motors (GM) here. Rather, Ford decided to take advantage of TeSlaa’s last name to hijack the narrative and gave TeSlaa his own truck.
Specifically, Ford gave the wide receiver a 2025 F-150 Lightning in silver. TeSlaa has been drawing a lot of attention for some truly impressive plays on game day, including two different one-handed catches. This not only gets Ford attention, but it denies Tesla (TSLA) an obvious play for a new spokesman.
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 13.73% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.84 per share implies 10.23% downside risk.
