Yahoo Finance While shareholders of Ford Motor (NYSE:F) are in the red over the last year, underlying earnings have actually grown
You can invest in an index fund if you want to make sure your returns approximately match the overall market. In contrast individual stocks will provide a wide range of possible returns, and may fall short. That's what happened in the case of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F): its share price dropped 20% while the market declined 18%. The silver lining (for longer term investors) is that the stock is still 19% higher than it was three years ago. It's down 32% in about a quarter. But this could be related to the weak market, which is down 17% in the same period.
The recent uptick of 7.2% could be a positive sign of things to come, so let's take a lot at historical fundamentals.
See our latest analysis for Ford Motor
To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.
Even though the Ford Motor share price is down over the year, its EPS actually improved. It could be that the share price was previously over-hyped.
The divergence between the EPS and the share price is quite notable, during the year. But we might find some different metrics explain the share price movements better.
Ford Motor's revenue is actually up 4.3% over the last year. Since we can't easily explain the share price movement based on these metrics, it might be worth considering how market sentiment has changed towards the stock.
You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).
Ford Motor is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. You can see what analysts are predicting for Ford Motor in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.
A Different Perspective
Ford Motor shareholders are down 18% over twelve months (even including dividends), which isn't far from the market return of -18%. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 5%, each year, over five years. If the stock price has been impacted by changing sentiment, rather than deteriorating business conditions, it could spell opportunity. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Ford Motor (including 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) .
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
