Ford cancels Mexican plant

Article Excerpt

FORD MOTOR CO. $13 (New York symbol F; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 3.9 billion; Market cap: $50.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.ford.com) has cancelled a plan to build a $1.6 billion assembly plant in Mexico. The move is partly a response to the Trump administration’s pledge to impose new tariffs on vehicles imported into the U.S. from Mexico. As well, the Mexican plant would have built the Ford Focus compact car. Sales of that vehicle have suffered lately as low gasoline prices encourage consumers to switch to bigger cars and trucks. The company will also spend $700 million to upgrade its operations in Flat Rock, Michigan. The improvements will help Ford launch new electric-powered and self-driving cars over the next several years. Meantime, the company announced that it will pay a special dividend of $0.05 a share in March 2017. That’s on top of its regular quarterly payment of $0.15 a..