Ford cuts its Mazda stake

Article Excerpt

FORD MOTOR CO. $16 (New York symbol F; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 3.5 billion; Market cap: $56.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.1; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.ford.com) is lowering its stake in Japanese carmaker Mazda Motor Corp. to 3.5% from 11.0%. This will let Ford and Mazda end a three-way joint venture with a Chinese carmaker. Ford will then be free to form new ventures in China. Ford will sell these shares through an auction process. It expects to receive $372 million. That’s equal to 20% of the $1.9 billion, or $0.48 a share, that Ford earned in its latest quarter. Ford is a buy. buy…