Will Ford (F) Stock be Affected Today by This Analyst Downgrade?
BY Sebastian Silva Follow |
12/15/14 - 08:26 AM EST |
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Ford Motor Co. (F) are down 0.27% to $14.95 in pre-market trading after Deutsche Bank downgraded the automobile company to "hold" from "buy" with a price target of $16.
"Ford's shares are trading just 7% away from our 12-month target ($16). And we have grown incrementally more cautious about investing in U.S. Auto stocks as the market enters its 6th year of recovery, and as U.S. automakers face a number of significant prospective challenges," analysts said.
"The key near-term upside and downside risks to our target include higher and lower-than-expected pricing and/or volume on the company's new F-150, which is launching now," analysts noted.
"Other upside and downside risks include higher/lower-than-expected trajectory of U.S. demand, higher/lower European volumes, higher/lower-than-expected cost increases, potentially due to commodity inflation and/or higher/lower-than-forecast growth in engineering/R&D expenses, and potential firming/moderation in U.S. pricing environment," analysts added.
Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates FORD MOTOR CO as a Buy with a ratings score of B. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:
"We rate FORD MOTOR CO (F) a BUY. This is driven by a number of strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income."
Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
?Net operating cash flow has increased to $5,369.00 million or 39.81% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, FORD MOTOR CO has also vastly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of -37.03%.
?Despite the weak revenue results, F has outperformed against the industry average of 17.4%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 2.4%. The declining revenue appears to have seeped down to the company's bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
?The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. In comparison to the other companies in the Automobiles industry and the overall market, FORD MOTOR CO's return on equity significantly exceeds that of the industry average and is above that of the S&P 500.
?FORD MOTOR CO's earnings per share declined by 32.3% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. We feel it is likely to report a decline in earnings in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, FORD MOTOR CO increased its bottom line by earning $1.75 versus $1.42 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 36.0% in earnings ($1.12 versus $1.75).
