Ford

Ford the motor company, still trying to dig its way out of the 2008 recession and can successfully say its one of the only surviving motor companies out of Detroit. General Motors mess is still in clean up mode, and the rest of the auto making industry has been shipped overseas. There were over 1,800 automobile manufacturers in the United States between 1896 and 1930. Now a few survive: Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors make up the main automakers left in the United States. Now minor car companies have been made in the United States but many have failed and others have never gained enough traction from investors.

The Exception
Now while mentioning the car industry and the U.S., it is hard to not mention this one. Tesla is one of the only successful start up car companies in the modern era and is why the story is so interesting. Elon Musk, a brilliant entrepreneur and inventor, took the gamble to start up Tesla. It paid off big time, not only is Tesla one of the hottest stocks on the market but its also revolutionizing the car industry by bringing back the electronic car.

The History of Ford
But, this is about Ford. Ford was founded in 1903 and revolutionized the auto making industry by introducing assembly lines in the process of car making. Henry Ford created the Model T, one of the first affordable cars in the United States and is widely accepted as one of the most influential inventions of the 20th century. Ford didn't go public into 1956 and tried to maintain the concept of a family ran business after Henry Ford passed. The company has been passed down from Mr. Ford and is now ran by his great-grandson Will Ford Jr. Although, the families involvement has dwindled.  The Ford family has retained 40% voting rights after going public. Even though shareholders round out the majority 60%. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally a critical decision maker who brought Ford out of its fall from 2008 will step down this summer and is going to be replaced by COO Mark Fields. Now Ford for most of the 20th century was consistently up their in names of the largest automakers in the world. By the late 20th century and 21st century, Ford and GM gave ground to foreign automakers. Toyota and Honda in Japan took top spots in the worlds automakers. By the 2008 recession, Ford, GM, and Chrysler were critically hit by sales and expenses that financially sunk the automakers  into laying off mass amounts of jobs contributing to the recession. Amazingly, Ford did not take as much money from the government then Chrysler and GM, so they are able to say they did not get "bailed out" and instead built there way from the bottom by themselves (for the most part). Now, Ford is steadily veering towards success again and still consistently a top automaker in the world, this year at number 5. In the U.S. Ford is 2nd behind GM.

Investment Perspective
Ford is a credible car company and has been reliable although it's stock my not suggest it. Ford has changed it's reputation from it's classic American muscle car look to a wide range of cars and trucks. The Ford F-150 is one of the most popular trucks on the road and there new Ford Raptor is gaining media and Ford fans attention. Not only should there truck line pick up, but there renewed Taurus and Focus look like they could give Ford good profit in the years to come. Recently, it's been more advantageous to buy an actually Ford than invest in the stock. It was trading around $17 for the majority of the second half of 2013 and dropped to it's $15 level in January off of a bad earnings report where they predict expenses will rise for 2014 from rolling out their new product lines. My opinion that type of a fall was on the red number from the expenses, rightfully so, investors should be worried but the pay off should be greater in the long run. It has struggled to get back to it's $17 level so far in 2014, but it's a non volatile stock for the most part, and so its $15 range should move up in the future. And like the rest of the auto industry, Ford also blamed it's bad quarter results to the bad winter storms. It's new product line should pay out not only for consumers but investors as well.

The special edition Ford F-150 SVT Raptor has media outlets buzzing

but will the expanded F-150 lineup draw in more customers?

In Conclusion 
From an outside looking in on the company I can only make my analysis from the data released by Ford and the compared stock price. Ford should be able to grow from it's new product line, unless natural disasters hit and Ford blames another bad quarter on the weather again. Keep in mind the risk reward factor, Ford could be pleased by sales from its expanding product line, or they could take a hit from it and backfire. They raised expenses and so they need some sales the next few quarters to solidify their investments. Invest with Care.