“It’s Hand to Mouth”: Ford Stock (NYSE:F) Notches Up on Ambitious Electric Vehicle Plans

It might just be that, at legacy automaker Ford (F), its eyes are bigger than its stomach. It has a plan to push for a greater electric vehicle dominance, but it is increasingly having problems landing the necessary supplies to actually make the cars in question. Investors did the math, though, and found there was reason enough to be happy. Thus, they sent shares notching up fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.

We had already heard that Ford had plans to take on China in terms of pricing. This by itself was something of an eye-catcher. It is no secret, after all, that a lot of China’s electric vehicle market is subsidized by the Chinese government. But Ford means to take them on regardless, planning to not only match pricing on batteries, but on chassis systems, inverters, electronics, and just about everything else that goes into these cars.

In fact, reports note, Ford’s Advanced Electric Vehicle program looks to establish a complete platform in EVs, complete with eight different body styles. Under this program, Ford will have trucks and SUVs, and may even potentially bring back the sedan, a model that some had thought mostly dead at Ford. And while Ford is also looking for tax credits to continue on and help drive the program, Ford may have a way to carry on regardless. But there is one larger problem afoot.

“It’s Hand to Mouth”

Ford’s ambitious plans for electric vehicles do depend heavily on the largesse of the American taxpayer. But they also depend on something else: access to rare-earth elements. And right now, that particular problem is haunting Ford pretty hard. Lisa Drake—who handles Ford’s industrial planning in electric vehicles—noted that it was “…hand to mouth—the normal supply-chain scrambling that you have to do.”

A recent deal with the Chinese should have opened up more supply vectors, but reports suggest that the supplies are still rather tight as things stand. After all, it was not so long ago that Ford had to briefly shut down production at a Chicago-area factory over a lack of these same materials.

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 11.08% loss in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $9.71 per share implies 9.97% downside risk.

See more F analyst ratings

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