Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is set to slash its workforce by 3,000 employees, which includes 2,000 salaried staff and 1,000 contract-based personnel. These job cuts will be effective from September 1, 2022, and would help the company achieve the goal of strengthening its footprint in the electric vehicle (EV) market.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the company’s Chief Executive Jim Farley and Executive Chair Bill Ford announced this piece of information via an Email on Monday. The layoffs are likely to impact people working for the automaker in the United States, India, and Canada.
The company intends to use funds saved from the layoffs to develop technologies required in advanced EV vehicles and make batteries that power them. By 2026, the company targets cost savings of $3 billion and a pre-tax profit margin of 10% versus 7.3% in 2021.
Also, Ford Motor has plans to invest $50 billion in the EV market through 2026 and sell as many as two million vehicles by then.
In addition to the layoffs, the $154.2-billion automobile company is in the limelight for a ruling against it in Georgia. The lawsuit involved an accident of the company’s F-250 pickup truck in 2014. The company is charged with damages worth $1.7 billion.
It is worth noting that shares of Ford Motors declined 5% to close at $15.08 on Monday.
Is Ford Motor Stock a Buy Now?
If analysts, insiders, and retail investors, tracked by TipRanks, are to be believed, a wait-and-watch approach could be a good idea for prospective investors.
On TipRanks, the company has a Hold consensus rating based on four Buys, 10 Holds, and one Sell. Ford’s average price target of $15.56 suggests upside potential of 3.18% from the current level.
Also, retail investors have lowered their exposure to Ford Motor stock by 0.4% in the past seven days. Their sentiment is presently Neutral on the stock. Meanwhile, corporate insiders are seen resisting their urge to buy the stock and have sold $321.3 thousand shares of Ford in the last three months.
Underpinning this story is a 3.4% month-over-month fall in the number of total estimated visits to the company’s website in July 2022. Also, per TipRanks’ Website Traffic tool, the website traffic has fallen 4.04% so far in 2022.
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