Ford's (F) Q4 Sales Volume Down 1.3% On Bleak Car Demand

Ford (NYSE:F) reported total unit sales of 601,862 in the fourth quarter of 2019. This marks a year-over-year decrease of 1.3% on a volume basis, mainly due to bleak demand for passenger cars and SUVs.

Notably, the company reported record truck sales volume, reflecting an increase of 15.9% year over year, with 330,075 trucks sold in the quarter. Meanwhile, sales volume for passenger cars and SUVs were down 41% and 4.1%, year on year, with 63,400 and 208,387 vehicles sold, respectively during the period under consideration.

For full-year 2019, Ford truck sales, including pickups and vans, jumped 9.1% with more than 1.24 million trucks sold. Further, the company registered combined sales of 986,097vehicles, indicating an increase of 8.4% year over year, for its F-Series and Ranger series in the year. While Ford recorded van sales of 59,930 in the fourth quarter. Van sales for the full year totaled 240,529 vehicles, depicting a 10.5%year over year gain.

In fourth-quarter 2019, Ford Expedition sales soared 71.6% year over year, while the affordably-priced EcoSport registered decline of 12.4% year over year. Sales of Ford Explorer showed a decline of 14.6% year over year to 48,083 SUVs in the quarter. Sales of Ford Mustang also climbed 20.4%in the quarter with 17,124 cars sold. Also, while sales volume of Lincoln SUVs came in at 87,893 for 2019, the same was up 30.9% year over year in the fourth quarter.

The company is actively working to introduce fresher models of autonomous and electric vehicles, which seem to be the future of the auto industry. These initiatives are likely to boost Ford’s prospects. The firm plans to produce self-driving cars by 2021. Moreover, it intends to launch 30 vehicle models in China by 2025, of which one third will be electric vehicles (EVs).

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Ford currently carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The stock has underperformed the industry it belongs to over the past year. Its shares have appreciated 17.8% compared with the industry’s rise of 27.1%.

Some better-ranked stocks in the Auto-Tires-Trucks sector include Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) , Visteon Corporation (NASDAQ:VC) and SPX Corporation (NYSE:SPXC) , each carrying a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy), at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.

Tesla has an estimated earnings growth rate of a whopping 1504.88% for 2020. The company’s shares have rallied34.8% in a year’s time.

Visteon has a projected earnings growth rate of 69.76% for the ongoing year. Its shares have gained 37.9% over the past year.

SPX has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.09% for the current year. The stock has appreciated 84.9% in the past year.

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