Ford sees June deliveries slip

Ford is up 69% YTD and is making impressive headway in the EV market, but can it keep up the gains as it battles the global chip shortage?

Legacy stock Ford, which has been controlled by the Ford family since Henry first founded the firm way back in 1903, has been one of the top stocks to watch this year. It kicked off 2021 with a brand new start, a corporate redesign, and big plans to make its mark on the EV and clean energy market. And so far, things have been going pretty well.

The stock started the year off at $8.81, and since then the firm has released a whole bunch of new technologies in the EV space that have pushed the price up to its Friday close of $14.93. In May, Ford said it was expecting 40% of its global sales to be electric by 2030, and announced plans to increase its EV investment to $30 billion by 2025. However, things haven't been running as smoothly lately as the global chip shortage takes its toll, casting doubts over whether Ford will be able to keep up with its stellar 2021 performance.

Last week, the automaker was forced to significantly cut its North American vehicle production: shutting down or reducing production at eight plants, six of which were in the U.S., for at least the month of July and possibly going into August. The cuts were the latest in a string of shutdowns for the company, which earlier this year said it was expecting to lose about 50% of vehicle production in Q2 because of the chip shortage issue, adding up a loss of around $2.5 billion in earnings.

On Friday, its latest June and Q2 delivery numbers gave a glimpse into that reality. Second quarter sales were below expectations at 475,327 vehicles, up only 9.6% from the same period a year ago when the country was locked down and auto dealers were shut, while sales for the month of June were down by just under 30%.

There is a silver lining though – Ford has seen reservations for its electric F-150 Lightning pickup surpass 10,000 since it made its debut in May.