As it turns out, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is experiencing a bit of a staffing shortage right now. Several measures have been tried to pick up the pace of hiring, including waivers on maximum ages. But as it turns out, legacy automaker Ford (F) may have a bigger stake in this than expected, thanks to its Mustang line. The new potential win is giving Ford a small boost in share prices, up fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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The Trump administration picked up two Mustang GT Fastbacks and decorated them accordingly, with gold ICE logos as well as graphics with a “Defend the Homeland” theme. The pair of them together set the government back around $120,000, and will function as “…a bold, high-performance symbol of innovation, strength and modern federal service.”
The two Mustangs will make the circuit of career fairs and other recruitment events to draw attention to ICE as a potential employment opportunity. This is not the first time that ICE has turned to custom cars to draw attention, either; it recently modified a Ford Raptor, as well as a GMC Yukon from Ford’s immediate rival General Motors (GM), to look like Trump’s own 757.
“I Bought My First House for Much Less”
Meanwhile, prices on Ford vehicles are coming under fire once more, as customers are starting to look at stickers with a little more sticker shock than normal. We know that Ford just finished up some special pricing not so long ago, but some of the prices are still disturbingly high. In fact, one driver recently got a load of the price on a 2024 Ford Bronco Report, and balked at the $100,000 price tag.
The 2024 Bronco Raptor boasted that tag, which left some scratching their heads. After all, original manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) on a 2024 Raptor is $90,035. And with the 2025 edition down to $79,995, why did this 2024 go up? As it turns out, this is academic; as the news started to spread of the six-figure Bronco Raptor, the price has since come down to $79,944 instead.
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 5.67% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.77 per share implies 8.61% downside risk.
