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Wall Street is growing more optimistic: Moody's Investor Services recently raised the company's credit rating two notches, to Caa1, its first upgrade in 14 years. "The rating actions reflect Moody's belief that after a period of intensive restructuring of its operations and balance sheet, Ford's business viability has significantly improved," Moody's report notes...
...Conway, a turnaround expert with the firm Conway and McKenzie in Birmingham, Mich., says Ford's $26 billion debt could still prove troublesome, and hefty interest payments will cut into the company's ongoing profitability. But one antidote to heavy debt is a healthy stock price, which Ford increasingly enjoys. The stock is up from about a buck last November to a recent price of $7.30 per share, and in May, Ford was able to raise $1.6 billion through a common-stock offering of 345 million shares. GM, by contrast, is hoping to do an IPO next year. (Read "Despite...
Moody's also cites a number of recent changes at Ford that should give the automaker's comeback extra kick in the future, including restructuring wages, work rules and retiree health-care elements in its agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW), as well as some reduction in debt, the maintenance of a sizable liquidity position and a more competitive product portfolio. (Ford obtained concessions on wages identical to those the UAW approved at GM and Chrysler, though Ford is now negotiating for additional work-rule changes and a no-strike clause...
Moody's qualified optimism is echoed by Ford chairman William Clay Ford. "In terms of our industry, I don't think I'll feel better until I see people going back to work. Clearly people without jobs aren't buying vehicles. But having said that, there are encouraging signs of a pickup," he told TIME...
...pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and we feel very good about that," the Ford chairman added. "There are always competitive issues, but I like the fact that we are the master of our own destiny, and I like the fact that our products are getting rave reviews. I wouldn't trade places with either [GM or Chrysler]." (Read "A Brief History of the Model...