Where is Ford headed?

EthanR answered one year ago …

An interesting thing happens with the automakers every few years. When times are bad, the sales drop off, as you see occuring presently. However, one can only keep their present car running for just so long before the parts start wearing out and the cost of repairing becomes as great or greater than the cost of buying or leasing a new car. So eventually people start buying new cars again, and it probably coincides with an improvement in the economy.

I see the car industry doing better in late 2009 or 2010. Since Wall Street looks ahead by six months, that means a rally in the car industry should begin to develop in the spring of 2009. But until then, I agree with Brad that it is dead money at the moment. Still, Ford at 5.81 is really tempting on a long term basis. If you had bought Ford (F) in March at or near the five buck low, you could have had a really nice trade, as F went to 8.50 within two months! If you can get F near five bucks again, I say buy. Worst case scenario, the politicians will bail out the auto industry, just as they are bailing out everybody else. Then again, once the election is over, maybe Santa Claus won't be as generous.