While Ford's Tariff Warnings Rattle Investors, A New $5B Bet On A $30K EV Truck Aims To Steer The Conversation

Ford Motor Co F shares are trading flat Monday morning as investors weigh a major strategic announcement against recent financial guidance. Here’s what investors need to know.What To Know: The automaker announced a $5 billion investment in American manufacturing to launch a new universal electric vehicle platform and a more efficient assembly system. This investment is projected to create or secure nearly 4,000 jobs across the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky and the BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan. The first vehicle to be built on this new platform is a midsize, four-door electric pickup truck with a targeted starting price of approximately $30,000. Scheduled to reach customers in 2027, Ford claims the truck will have acceleration as fast as a Mustang EcoBoost and more passenger space than a new Toyota RAV4. The company is also developing a new production system it says will simplify assembly and could be up to 40% faster than current processes. This forward-looking news follows the company’s late July second-quarter earnings report, where Ford beat analyst estimates by posting revenue of $46.94 billion and adjusted earnings of 37 cents per share. However, the strong quarterly performance was tempered by a warning that the company anticipates a $2 billion tariff headwind for its full-year 2025 results. The combination of ambitious long-term EV plans and more immediate cost pressures appears to have left the stock without a clear direction during Monday’s session.Benzinga Edge Rankings: According to Benzinga Edge stock rankings, which provide four critical scores to help investors identify the strength of stocks, Ford Motor Company shows a profile with distinct strengths and more average characteristics. The company scores particularly high in Value at 81.69 and shows strong Momentum with a score of 73.65. These figures suggest the stock may be attractively priced and is experiencing positive price trends. In contrast, its other metrics are more moderate. Ford’s Quality score is 54.69, while its Growth score sits at 50.13, indicating its fundamental financial health and growth prospects are viewed as average.Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, Ford Motor shares are trading slightly down at $11.10 Monday morning. The stock has a 52-week high of $11.97 and a 52-week low of $8.44.Read Also: Micron Stock Jumps After Boosting Sales And Profit Outlook On Soaring AI Chip DemandHow To Buy F StockBy now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Ford Motor – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.In the case of Ford Motor, which is trading at $11.10 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 9 shares of stock.If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.Image: Shutterstock