After The Blue Oval posted mostly good Q2 financial results on the back of strong sales, several investment firms opted to upgrade their price targets on Ford stock, as well as their outlook on those same shares. However, others remain concerned about how things like tariffs and the overall economy will impact the automaker over the second half of 2025, a list that includes Bernstein, which downgraded its own outlook back in April. That hasn’t changed now, despite some recent big news from FoMoCo.
According to Investing.com, Bernstein has opted to hold its ground in terms of its opinion on Ford stock, maintaining a price target of $8.30, along with an Underperform rating. The firm cites a few reasons for this move – noting that Ford’s Q2 revenue was offset by one-off charges and a downgrade in terms of its 2025 earnings guidance, a weak gross profit margin of 7.22 percent, and operational challenges. Bernstein analysts noted that they expect investors to sour on Ford stock in H2 as it faces tariff and affordability pressures, too.
Bernstein did acknowledge the potential impact of Ford’s new universal EV platform, which was just unveiled yesterday, as a reason for optimism in regard to the company’s long-term direction. It believes that Ford has the ability to navigate tariff- and warranty cost-related issues in the long-term, but in the shorter term, it thinks that the automaker will be impacted, regardless.
Ford’s universal EV platform is set to underpin a variety of future models, starting with a mid-size EV pickup slated to launch in 2027. To help reduce costs and complexity, the new platform uses 20 percent fewer parts than a typical vehicle – plus 25 percent fewer fasteners and 40 percent fewer workstations dock-to-dock, resulting in an assembly time that’s 15 percent faster. The wiring harness present in these vehicles is a whopping 4,000 feet shorter and 22 pounds lighter than the automaker’s first-generation EVs, all of which results in lower five-year cost of ownership rates than a three-year old used Tesla Model Y, according to Ford.
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Maybe they can sell the Detroit Train Station to fund their “core” business.