Ford shares close flat on Monday, company’s UAW members vote in favor of new four-year labor contract

Ford Motor Co’s rank-and-file members of the United Auto Workers union have voted in support of a new four-year labor contract with the US car maker, the union said last week.

Ford shares closed flat at $8.95 in New York on Monday. The stock touched an intraday high at $9.05, which has been a price level not seen since November 12th ($9.13).

Shares of Ford Motor Company have risen 16.99% so far in 2019 compared with a 24.54% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Ford Motor Co’s stock went down 38.75%, thus, it again underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

56.3% of Ford Motor Co’s hourly workers voted in support of the deal, which enabled Ford to avoid a strike similar to that, which General Motors had recently faced at a cost of nearly $3 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, Ford agreed to invest over $6 billion in its facilities across the United States as well as to add or retain over 8 500 UAW jobs.

The deal also envisages worker wage raises and lump-sum payments over the life of the contract.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 15 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Ford Motor Company’s stock price, have a median target of $10.00, with a high estimate of $13.00 and a low estimate of $8.00. The median estimate represents an 11.73% upside compared to the closing price of $8.95 on November 18th.

The same media also reported that at least 9 out of 16 surveyed investment analysts had rated Ford Motor Company’s stock as “Hold”, while 5 – as “Buy”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.