Ford Europe Sales Fall in May, Up YoY - Analyst Blog

Ford Motor Co. F reported a 0.9% dip in May sales in Europe to 98,600 units. The automaker attributes the decline to high year-ago sales as the company replenished its supply of large cars in dealerships in May 2013 after months of low supply from its Belgium plant.

The company's share in the Euro 20 market fell 0.5 percentage point to 7.8% year over year as industry sales increased 5%. In the Euro 22 region and all the 50 European markets it covers, Ford's sales fell 9.6% year over year.

Year-to-date results were better, as Ford's sales in the Euro 20 region surged 7.7% to 496,400 vehicles, beating the industry growth rate of 6.6%. Sales in the Euro 22 and Euro 50 regions nudged up 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.

The company's commercial vehicle sales jumped 12.8% in May and 8.1% in the first 5 months of 2014. As a result, the market share of commercial vehicles increased to 10.5% in May and 10.2% year to date, which is the highest in 16 years.

Ford sales to European retail and fleet customers went up 1 percentage point to 72% of total sales in Jan–May 2014, which is 2 percentage points above the industry average. However, the company's daily rental sales and dealer registrations dropped to 28% during the period.

The year-over-year increase in sales and market share can be attributed to vehicle launches by the automaker. Ford Kuga was the leading vehicle in terms of sales growth. It witnessed a 40% year-over-year surge in sales in the first 5 month of 2014. Meanwhile, the highest selling vehicle was Ford Fiesta.

Currently, Ford carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked automobile stocks worth considering include Fox Factory Holding Corp FOXF, Gentherm Incorporated THRM and Tower International, Inc. TOWR. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).