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Strategies & Market Trends : YEEHAW CANDIDATES -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sergio H who wrote (1652)	4/6/2003 7:27:13 PM
From: EGGSHAPE	Respond to of 23958

Hi Everyone! looks good for some long trading? I think it could be a while yet, but what do you think of F now? I've been trading it for a while, finally just held... found this bit of news, still don't know what to think! By August Cole, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 1:30 PM ET Apr 5, 2003 CHICAGO (CBS.MW) -- Was Ford Motor putting on airs when it bought Aston Martin in 1987? Or Jaguar in 1989? Or Land Rover in 1999 and Volvo in 2000? These are trophies that could become real businesses. And analysts wanting transparency will finally get a glimpse at the books that have been under wraps for a long time. When Ford Motor (F) delivers first-quarter results April 16, it will report the financial results of these four brands under the rubric of the premier auto group for the first time since the unit's creation in March 1999. It comes at a historic, and trying, time for the No. 2 automaker. A centennial anniversary celebration is months away but the stock is at multiyear lows. Chairman and CEO Bill Ford Jr. is winnowing the Jacques Nasser-era executives from its ranks as the investment community and automotive world say he is increasingly identified as the only one that can resuscitate the company. So far, Ford appears to be ahead of its ambitious turnaround plan announced last year. The first quarter is expected to be profitable, too, and the insight into the luxury lines will be welcome on Wall Street. To be sure, there's a lot in play at the Dearborn, Mich.-based company. But industry watchers have struggled to model the premier auto group performance with a paltry amount of information for a unit so vital to the Ford turnaround story. "Everybody will be very focused on what's going into PAG," said Scott Hill, auto analyst at Sanford Bernstein. Sweet spot It's important to remember that in any given month, Ford's blue-oval brand dramatically outsells all four premier lines put together. But profit or loss, the results for the unit will be well received. "Either one of these cases is good because we can ascertain where they are standing with PAG," said Hill. There is real potential within these brands. Their top-end models can command some of the biggest stickers in the Ford Motor family. They don't have to be discounted as heavily or even at all. Longer term, if Ford can figure out a way to manufacture the high-end vehicles for less money but preserve the price premium, the high-end wager pays out handily. If not, well, just remember that someone was willing to sell them to Ford in the first place. It's also a numbers game. Build just enough to milk the marques but care must be taken to avoid overproduction or to move too far down-market. In its current restructuring, Ford is still four to seven years away from that sweet spot, Hill said, where the high prices and efficient production meet. But reporting PAG's results right now is a smart step.