Historically, tumultuous times offer some of the best opportunities to buy stocks, and the market's current mess surely qualifies. Few industries -- save for possibly the financial sector -- have been gored as deeply as the automotive sector, but despite the dismal sales and bankruptcies at Chrysler and GM, some investors see many reasons to consider buying shares of automaker Ford (NYSE: F) today.
In our Motley Fool CAPS community, 7,335 investors have given a bullish or bearish opinion on Ford. Poring through the detailed information packed in pitches and other comments, I've dug up three of the top reasons why many members consider the stock a buy today:
1. Gaining market share: Since General Motors and Chrysler have been grinding their way through bankruptcy proceedings, Ford has seen its market share grow, and is even seeing big sales increases in China and Canada. Although auto sales continued to fall in June, Ford had its smallest monthly decline since July of last year and outsold Toyota (NYSE: TM) for the fourth straight month.
2. Boosting production: Ford recently reported tighter inventories, down 38% from a year ago. It plans to increase its third-quarter production after seeing more demand in June, a move companies like Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) like to hear, and is floating the notion that the worst is behind it and that the industry could see modest improvement in the second half of this year.
3. Innovative lineup: The Fusion has recently been making big gains in the car market against rivals Toyota Camry and Honda (NYSE: HMC) Accord, validating Ford's strategy to shift a larger percentage of sales from SUVs to cars. It plans to invest about $1.5 billion in new small-car facilities in emerging markets like China and India, where Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) has seen continuing sales increases, and it plans to expand on its already successful Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Sync technology by launching it in Europe and around the world
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