What to Expect From Ford Earnings

Ford announced this quarter that it was coming out with a brand new aluminum body for the F-150, but it had better get that out into the market soon or it could lose its position at the top of the heap of new vehicle sales. In the month of September, Ford pickup truck market share was third best, trailing both General Motors and Chrysler.

For the month of September, the current version of the F-Series pickups sold 59,863 units, still nearly 9,000 more than the second best-selling Chevy Silverado from GM. And the Silverado is gaining market share while the F-150 is losing, down 1% year-over-year in September and down 0.4% year-to-date compared with 2013. The Silverado is up 54.4% in September and 5.9% year-to-date.

Back before the warning issued by Ford, this was a $17.50 stock as recently as the start of September — so shares are almost $3 lower since then.

Susquehanna just started Ford as Neutral this week. Goldman Sachs just downgraded Ford to Neutral from Buy on October 14. Morgan Stanley maintained its Underweight rating for Ford, but lowered its price target to $14 from $16, on October 8.

Both the 50-day and the 200-day moving average are acting as an overhang on Ford shares, reading at $15.90 for the 50-day and $15.99 for the 200-day moving average. This would be a recent so-called death cross to some investors, but Ford shares went to about $13.50 recently before the last recovery this week.

ALSO READ: The 20 Most Profitable Companies in the World

Shares of Ford closed Thursday up almost 2% at $14.40. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $17.32 and a 52-week trading range of $13.26 to $18.12. Ford has a market cap of almost $56 billion.