Ford?

[kent]

Anybody buying today? I'm thinking about pulling the trigger and picking up another 5,000 shares - currently at $12.35

Thoughts?

[rovo]

Kent, I have quite a bit of Ford stock and for the life of me I can not understand the current valuation on the shares. They have Union negotiations starting soon, a possible further slowing of the economy would hurt them, they have a lot of debt but now have enough capital to cover it. On the plus side they are gaining market share, their design and production quality is quite good, they are making good in-roads in China but started late.

Fundamentals will eventually determine the stock price but there are times when external events rule the markets.

[silverguy25]

Jul 27, 2011 19:34:54 GMT -5 @franktheimpaler said:

DO IT!

Just bought some Nike!

[maui1]

when is ford impacted by gm and chy? in the long run, competing against the gov't, results in defeat.

every car that gm/chy sell, is one less car ford can sell, and there are only so many cars that will be bought.

seems like someone has to lose for the rest to survive.........does anyone think that our gov't will let either gm or chy lose?

our gov't is not going after ford directly, but as an unintended consequence, they will kill ford by trying to keep gm and chy afloat.

[rovo]

Chrysler Results

Chrysler posted second-quarter adjusted net income of $181 million compared with a loss of $172 million last year, the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based automaker said today in a statement. Including the repayment of U.S. and Canadian government loans, Chrysler lost $370 million in the quarter, the company said.

Fiat, initially granted a 20 percent stake in Chrysler by the U.S. government, expects to hold 58.5 percent of the third- biggest U.S. automaker by the end of 2011, after getting 5 percent in return for developing a fuel-efficient car for Chrysler. The United Auto Workers union’s trust will have the remaining 41.5 percent. Marchionne will end up paying about $2 billion to reach the 58.5 percent holding.

Source: www.businessweek.com/news/2011-07-26/fiat-raises-2011-targets-after-consolidating-chrysler-earnings.html

[rovo]

Chrysler was the weakest member of the big 3 for a long time prior to the bankruptcies of both themselves and GM. Fiat has done nothing for decades and their last attempt to crack the US market ended in failure. So I see the marriage of Fiat and Chrysler as a match made in Hell with little or no chance of success. Once they, Chrysler, bow out of the picture their market share will be up for grabs.

[kent]

Jul 27, 2011 19:53:37 GMT -5 rovo said:

Kent, I have quite a bit of Ford stock and for the life of me I can not understand the current valuation on the shares. They have Union negotiations starting soon, a possible further slowing of the economy would hurt them, they have a lot of debt but now have enough capital to cover it. On the plus side they are gaining market share, their design and production quality is quite good, they are making good in-roads in China but started late.

Fundamentals will eventually determine the stock price but there are times when external events rule the markets.

Rovo I didn't pull the trigger yesterday (got cold feet). Like you, I'm having trouble understanding the valuation. That, and spending over $60,000 to buy another 5,000 shares when this economy is SO iffy (I'm retired so I can't "earn" my way back from a significant loss if that were to happen).

After thinking about it further, the issue of upcoming negotiations with the UAW is also a factor - so much depends on their posture.

Frank does DO IT with the mean I'd be to buy?

[Trongersoll]

Jul 28, 2011 12:22:56 GMT -5 rovo said:

Chrysler was the weakest member of the big 3 for a long time prior to the bankruptcies of both themselves and GM. Fiat has done nothing for decades and their last attempt to crack the US market ended in failure. So I see the marriage of Fiat and Chrysler as a match made in Hell with little or no chance of success. Once they, Chrysler, bow out of the picture their market share will be up for grabs.

I disagree. Actually, Fiat and its other divisions is doing quite well. I see Maserati's & Ferrari's on the road where i live. But, most of Fiat's brands are in Europe. Out of sight, out of mind i guess.

I just finished Bob Lutz's book, Car guys vs. Bean Counters. In it he mentions that GM was interested in buying Chrysler and even tried but the timing was bad.

In 2012 Chrysler is going to offer the 8 speed automatic that was developed by and independant company for BMW in some of their cars. This is expected to improve the gas mileage of those cars.

I would say that the main thing that is working against Fiat at the moment is Greece's financial problems. Italy has a lot of debt.

I saw a Fiat 500 on the road the other day, cute, the first i saw. It looks like the Mini may finally have some competition. A friend i have living in Italy tells me that they are all over the place there.

finance.yahoo.com/q?s=FIATY.PK

[kent]

OK, that's it.....I'm buying in just a minute so there!

[smackdown]

They ran out of Japanese-made dashboards for the Focus. They concentrated remaining inventories in low popularity areas and put them on sale. They have more Mustangs in overstock than the public is interested in. The likelihood of unemployed people buying new cars when their ones die isn't good. You go ahead and invest in a 20th Century dinosaur while the markets fall away.

[Trongersoll]

Aug 5, 2011 14:41:30 GMT -5 @smackdown said:

The likelihood of unemployed people buying new cars when their ones die isn't good.

Although this statement may be true, it isn't terribly important. Used car sales are also important to the car companies because they give the people who do buy new cars some of their money back from their previous new car to invest in their new new car.

For most people cars are one of the biggest investments that they make, repeatedly.

[rovo]

Aug 5, 2011 14:41:30 GMT -5 @smackdown said:

They ran out of Japanese-made dashboards for the Focus. They concentrated remaining inventories in low popularity areas and put them on sale. They have more Mustangs in overstock than the public is interested in. The likelihood of unemployed people buying new cars when their ones die isn't good. You go ahead and invest in a 20th Century dinosaur while the markets fall away.

V_L, You may want to check your source for the dashboard comment. The article I read said the dashboard shortage was a problem with some machine in the U.S.A. Also, do you have something to verify the Mustang over supply comment?

Dashboard story:
www.4wheelsnews.com/ford-struggles-to-meet-the-demand-for-2012-focus-due-to-dashboard-shortage/