What happened
Shares of Ford Motor Company (F 3.88%) were moving higher on Thursday, after two veteran Wall Street analysts released bullish notes on the automaker.
As of 11:45 a.m. ET, Ford's shares were up about 2.7% from Wednesday's closing price.
So what
In a new note on Thursday, Barclays analyst Brian Johnson raised his price target for Ford's shares to $23, from $18, while maintaining the bank's prior outperform rating on the shares.
Johnson wrote that while investors seem to be eyeing auto suppliers, rather than automakers themselves, ahead of an anticipated rebound in auto production in 2022, he's more cautious on the group because of inflation concerns. But he thinks the automakers themselves, including Ford, will continue to post strong profit margins as tight inventories keep new car prices high for a while longer.
2022 is shaping up to be a big year for Ford, with supply chain issues expected to ease and several new models including the electric F-150 Lightning set to launch. Image source: Ford Motor Company.
Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan sounded similar themes in his own new note on Thursday morning, in which he raised his bank's price target on Ford to $25 from $19 while maintaining an overweight rating on the Blue Oval's shares.
Langan wrote that he's becoming more optimistic about the auto industry's recovery from the supply chain issues that have hampered production this year. He noted that his valuation for Ford assumes a value of $11.7 billion for Ford's stake in electric vehicle start-up Rivian and an additional $6 billion in value for its share of self-driving start-up Argo AI.
Now what
Most auto investors are probably well aware that Ford's stock has had an outstanding run this year. Its shares were up about 130% from the beginning of the year through yesterday's close. While it wouldn't be surprising to see Ford's stock lose some momentum as the company's business catches up to the market's expectations, it's encouraging to see that Johnson and Langan both feel that the stock might run further in 2022.
