After a slow start to the year, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) stock has been charging higher over the last month. Its nearly 24% gain in the past month has boosted the year-to-date return to almost 19%. Yet Ford stock has still gone effectively nowhere over the last one- and three-year periods.
But one Wall Street analyst sees its recent gains continuing.
Barclays analyst Dan Levy thinks strong demand and stable pricing will lead the company to raise guidance. He believes investors should buy Ford stock and bumped his price target up by $1 to $17 per share. That implies a gain over the next 12 months or so of 17% from Wednesday's closing price.
Ford sales are humming
Analysts, on average, think that Ford will report an operating profit of $11.2 billion in 2024, according to FactSet. That's near the midpoint of the company's range, but there are signs that it could boost its projections when it reports earnings on July 24, after the market close.
Ford's June sales update provided some evidence supporting Levy's thoughts. Ford has sold a record number of SUVs in the first half of 2024, besting its previous record set in 2017. While admittedly coming from a smaller base, Ford's electric vehicle (EV) sales are up 72% so far in 2024. It also just had its best quarterly results for hybrid sales. Ford's industry-leading F-Series sales have also accelerated by 30% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter.
Ford has another competitive advantage: Its commercial vehicle sales add a sales channel that many of its competitors don't have. The company sold a record number of its Transit vans in the first half of 2024. And sales of the electric E-Transit van more than doubled compared to the first half of 2023.
If that sales momentum continues, Ford's stock looks like a value now after years of underperformance. Levy may be one of several analysts who will begin to publicize that.
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Howard Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends FactSet Research Systems. The Motley Fool recommends Barclays Plc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
