Where Will Ford Motor Be in 1 Year?
On April 13, Ford Motor (NYSE: F) released a preliminary look at its first quarter results. As expected under a global pandemic that has billions of people around the world under stay-at-home orders and global transportation at a standstill, it wasn't very good. Ford said sales were down 16% on a 21% drop in wholesales vehicle shipments, resulting in a $600 million pre-tax adjusted loss.
It's likely that the first quarter offers just a small glimpse into how bad the second quarter -- and possibly longer -- could be for the company. Much of Ford's global manufacturing footprint is still shuttered, and it's not clear when its North America and European plants will reopen. Auto sales in the U.S. are likely to be far, far worse under what could be multiple months of the economy in park, and the company is set to lose many billions of dollars before the economy gets put back in drive.
In about a year, medical experts are optimistic there should be a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and effective treatments are expected to be found before then. If that proves to be the case, the global economy, which has been forced to brake hard to reduce the spread of the deadly virus, should be accelerating once again.
Source Fool.com