Al Root

Ford Motor and General Motors received new Wall Street ratings and price targets on Thursday evening. Shares of both auto makers were up in early Friday trading.

TD Cowen analyst Itay Michaeli launched coverage of GM stock with a Buy rating and $105 price target, representing upside of more than 100% from Thursday's close of $47.20.

GM stock was up 0.6% in early trading at $47.47, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down about 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.

The stock might not be reacting more because Michaeli moved from Citi to TD Cowen. At Citi, he rated GM stock at Buy and had a $98 price target. That target was from July.

Michaeli remains bullish on GM despite the threat of tariffs that can raise costs and hurt profits, and amid persistently high interest rates that make cars less affordable. "U.S. auto stock sentiment feels as depressed as ever with most trading at/near historical multiple lows," he wrote. "Yet the sector has a long history of groupthink and over-extrapolations that led to...opportunities."

One of those opportunities is General Motors' shares. "GM is our top pick with a Street-high $105 price target," wrote Michaeli. Stock buybacks, strong earnings from the truck franchise, and growing electric-vehicle sales are all reasons he likes shares.

Michaeli relaunched his coverage of Ford stock with a Hold rating and $10 price target. At Citi, he rated Ford shares at Buy with an $18 price target. That target and rating, however, was from May.

Ford has struggled recently with high warranty costs and high dealer inventories. "Fundamentally, we lean more bullish over the long term but awaiting a more convincing entry point given a lack of visible earnings catalysts until at least [the second half of the year]," wrote Michaeli. He's "staying patient for a compelling entry [point]."

About 63% of analysts covering GM stock have Buy ratings, according to FactSet, with an average price target of about $62. About 29% of analysts covering Ford stock have Buy ratings, with an average price target a little more than $10 a share. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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March 07, 2025 09:22 ET (14:22 GMT)

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