Ford Stock: Is There More Upside?

(Ford poll piece updated with comments from trader/RealMoney contributor.)
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Since Ford(F) issued its latest earnings release last week and its April sales figures this week, industry experts and investors have been searching for a consensus on the direction of Ford stock.

Private trader and RealMoney contributor Alan Farley says "I love Ford, which is one of my three top 2010 picks but have been expecting this decline," referring to signs of what he thinks could be the "end of its yearlong vertical rally and the start of a corrective phase...."

Farley adds that he's looking forward to buying the stock for an investment account in the third or fourth quarter, down in single digits.

In April, Farley said Ford was setting up a two to three month decline.

For his part, David Silver of Wall Street Strategies believes that Ford and the rest of the auto industry will continue to see strong year-on-year expansion, with some caution. "Sales were strong for the industry as a whole, and Ford is still our favorite, and appears to be the only company with any momentum right now," Silver said.

Silver also noted that a sequential sales improvement accompanied by a gradual pullback in incentives would bode very well for the industry -- but added that if the industry continues to lean on incentives for growth, automakers could see an erosion of profitability.

Meanwhile, S&P analyst Efraim Levy was reiterating his hold rating on Ford stock, noting that "Ford reports a 25% increase in vehicle shipments in April, year-over-year, good enough to gain market share, in our opinion, but we think a slowdown from March's 43% is something to watch." Levy added that he likes Ford's "mix improvement, with retail sales, pickups and utilities powering the volume forward."

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