Ford shares fall the most in a week on Thursday as total vehicle sales in the United States drop 4% in October

Ford Motor Company (F) said on Thursday that its total vehicle sales in the United States had registered a 3.9% annual drop in October to 192 616 units. That compares with a 5.0% sales drop expected by Edmunds.

At the same time, the company’s year-to-date sales in the country shrank 2.5% compared to the same period of 2017 to 2 080 241 vehicles.

Sales at the Ford brand shrank 3.4% year-on-year during the past month, while sales at the Lincoln brand were down 15.0% year-on-year.

Ford shares closed lower for the eighth time in the past thirteen trading sessions in New York on Thursday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since October 24th. The stock went down 2.72% ($0.26) to $9.29, after touching an intraday low at $9.27, or a price level not seen since October 30th ($9.27).

Shares of Ford Motor Company have retreated 25.62% so far in 2018 compared with a 2.50% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2017, Ford’s stock went up 2.97%, thus, it again underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 19.42% return.

Sales of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) grew 6.7% year-on-year in October to 67 554 units. Sales of all-new Ford Expedition registered a 74.7% annual increase to 3 623 vehicles, while sales of Ford Explorer rose 12.5% year-on-year to 19 034 vehicles.

Fords truck sales went down 4.9% year-on-year in October to 88 725 units. Fords F-Series exceeded 70 000 trucks sold for the eighth month in a row in October, as sales totaled 70 438 units.

Meanwhile, sales of passenger vehicles dropped 17.1% year-on-year in October to 36 337 units. Fiesta sales recorded a 65.7% annual growth to 5 665 vehicles, while Mustang sales shrank 6.0% year-on-year to 4 924 vehicles.

The US auto maker also sold a total of 17 353 vans in October.

“Our strategy to prioritize our trucks, SUVs and vans is paying off with October running at record level transaction pricing. Our sales mix continues to heavily favor these products, which last month represented 81 percent of sales,” Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, said in a statement.

Overall average transaction prices hit record levels of $36 800 per vehicle last month, or an increase by $1 400 compared to October 2017.

According to CNN Money, the 21 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Ford Motor Company’s stock price, have a median target of $10.00, with a high estimate of $13.00 and a low estimate of $7.00. The median estimate represents a 7.64% upside compared to the closing price of $9.29 on November 1st.

The same media also reported that 18 out of 23 surveyed investment analysts had rated Ford Motor Company’s stock as “Hold”, while 3 – as “Buy”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.

Weekly Pivot Levels

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Ford Motor Company (F) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $8.74
R1 – $9.30
R2 – $9.63
R3 – $10.19
R4 – $10.76

S1 – $8.41
S2 – $7.85
S3 – $7.52
S4 – $7.20