🚘 Ford, Focus!

Ford shares finished up over 12% on Friday, with investors pouring into the company as it tackles EV losses and fallout from a devastating fire that slammed a major aluminum supplier. The day after the automaker posted earnings was its best day in the stock market since January 2022.

Investors’ optimism seems to have less to do with Ford’s performance of late — the automaker lowered the top range of its full-year EBIT forecast by $1 billion — and more to do with the steps it’s taking to clean things up.

• Ford lost $1.4 billion on EVs in the third quarter, the unit’s deepest loss since 2023. That result came despite a sales surge as customers raced to qualify for the expiring $7,500 EV tax credit. 

• On the company’s earnings call Thursday, CEO Jim Farley said he believes EV adoption will be about 5% of the US market, below the 7.5% S&P Global cited earlier this month. 

• But Ford says it has a solution. The company is “prioritizing hybrids across our lineup, including the development of extended range hybrid options,” Farley said, and he also highlighted Ford’s new production platform, which will produce cheaper electric vehicles (including a $30,000 EV truck in 2027). 

According to Farley, this plan is “right around the corner” and sourcing is 95% complete.

Ford also said it’s going to keep production of its F-150 Lightning paused, focusing instead on gas and hybrid trucks. That move, however, has less to do with its broader EV shift and more to do with aluminum, as electric vehicles use more of the metal.

The Takeaway

Ford is being more intentional about aluminum usage following the damaging fire at Novelis’ Oswego aluminum plant, which reportedly supplied 40% of the US auto industry’s aluminum sheet. The plant fire will ding Ford’s fourth-quarter earnings by between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, the company said. But Ford said it has “line of sight to mitigate at least $1 billion in 2026” and can “make up” roughly half of those losses next year by adding third shifts and new jobs.

Altogether, Wall Street seems impressed at how Ford has been navigating a few roadblocks that have materialized in its way.

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• Premium seats are airlines’ not-so-secret special sauce: Count us among the many who hopefully await a premium upgrade to the “plus” level every time we fly. It seems the allure of extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, as American, United, and Delta have all enjoyed strong quarters driven by “premium markets.” As Delta said, once you go Comfort+, you can’t go back. 

• Big Tech’s big visions for AR glasses is foggy: Snap is reportedly seeking $1 billion to finance its AR glasses division in an “existential” fundraise, though an exec said the social firm doesn’t need outside help to “publicly launch Specs in 2026.” Meanwhile, though Meta keeps crowing its Ray-Ban Meta glasses are a hit, Zuckerberg has also acknowledged, “This will be a defining year that determines if we’re on a path toward many hundreds of millions, and eventually billions, of AI glasses.” One bullish sign came from Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, which reported a revenue boost from the Meta specs in its third-quarter earnings, but we still don’t know anyone who actually bought a pair.

Hasbro’s Wizards just worked their magic on earnings

The company behind iconic games like “Monopoly,” “Trivial Pursuit,” and “Clue” scored some serious points with investors this week, as Hasbro’s revenue climbed 8% year over year to top $1.4 billion — a result powered less by plastic toys and more by pixels and especially by cards.

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• Monday Night Football: Traders are predicting a clear advantage in favor of the 4-3 Kansas City Chiefs over the 3-4 Washington Commanders, with traders on Robinhood’s market pricing a Kansas City win at $0.86 

• A cooler-than-expected inflation report fueled more confidence in additional Federal Reserve easing through year-end, with prediction markets pricing in the odds of three cuts in 2025 as high as 85%

• Wall Street analysts looked deeper into Intel’s earnings report and concluded its turnaround has a long way to go