Morningstar

Ford's August Sales show Strong SUV and Pickup Demand

The automaker posted a solid month despite a continued plunge in its car lineup.

Securities In This Article
Ford Motor Co
(F)

August U.S. light-vehicle sales received a little help from a soft comparable due to Hurricane Harvey ravaging Houston in August 2017. Sales will have a tough comparable from Harvey for September 2018. August 2018 sales declined by 0.2% year over year to 1.48 million, while Automotive News put the seasonally adjusted annualized selling rate, SAAR, at 16.69 million versus 16.58 million in August 2017. Both Augusts had 27 selling days, and this is the lowest SAAR yet of 2018. Ford gave industry incentive dollar spending figures by vehicle segment that did not show a major change in high incentive levels, and we continue to expect a battle for the rest of the year between new-vehicle incentives and consumers drawn to used vehicles as more vehicles come off-lease. Light trucks are king in this market and that remains good news for the Detroit Three, which each get at least nearly 80% of their U.S. unit sales mix from light trucks.

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About the Author

David Whiston, CFA, CPA, CFE

Strategist
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David Whiston, CFA, CPA, CFE, is a strategist, AM Industrials, for Morningstar*. He covers stocks in the automotive industry, including dealerships, parts manufacturers, and automakers. He has covered the automotive industry since joining Morningstar in 2007. He writes stock reports, ad hoc reports, stock analyst notes, and builds discounted cash flow models for each company covered. He also assesses their economic moat and makes frequent television and print media appearances in local, national, and international news outlets. Key stocks covered include GM, Ford, CarMax, and all six publicly traded franchise auto dealers, such as AutoNation and Penske Automotive Group.

Before joining Morningstar in 2007, Whiston spent four years in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ New York real estate audit practice and one year in its Chicago office working on real estate acquisition due diligence, gaining experience around assessing an asset’s cash flow.

Whiston holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business. He also holds a master’s degree in business administration with concentrations in finance, economics, and organizational behavior from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, and he is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner.

In 2012, he ranked first in the specialty retailers and services industry in The Wall Street Journal’s annual “Best on the Street” analysts survey. He ranked first in the same industry in 2011 .

* Morningstar Research Services LLC (“Morningstar”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc

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