Ford Motor Co. stock rose more than 4% on Wednesday after Credit Suisse turned bullish on the shares, praising the Detroit auto maker’s turnaround after a series of “disappointments.”
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shares were on track to close at their highest since April 28, 2015, when they closed at $16.06 and at a new 52-week high. The stock is up more than 82% so far his year, on pace for its best year since 2009.
Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy moved the rating on Ford stock to the equivalent of buy, from hold, and raised the price target to $20, from $15, implying a 25% upside over Wednesday’s share price.
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The analyst downgraded Ford early last year on concerns that the company was struggling to “two clocks,” he said: Balance their near-term execution issues with the long-term transitions of the industry.
“Yet in the past year, we’ve seen a significant turnaround under way at Ford — it has ended its cycle of quarterly earnings disappointments, and its transition to an EV/digital world has sharply accelerated,” Levy said in a note Wednesday.
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“We believe there is more opportunity ahead,” he said. Chief Executive Jim Farley, who took over as the top executive at the auto maker in October 2020, “has Ford on the right track,” with the company moving quickly and with greater urgency toward the transition to an EV and digital world and, with investors more confident about its financial outlook.
Ford is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings next week. It surprised Wall Street in July when it reported a second-quarter profit as strong demand for its vehicles allowed it to forgo discounting them.
This post was originally published on Market Watch
