Ford shares rise on profit expectation

Analysts at Buckingham upgraded Ford shares to strong buy from accumulate last week, adding that they expect the automaker to report a small third-quarter profit.

The Wall Street consensus is that Ford will lose money in the quarter.

Buckingham also sees the stock price hitting $12 within the next 12 months, and believes there’s a slim chance of Ford issuing more stock ahead of its third-quarter results.

With limited inventory and strong demand from the “Cash for Clunkers” program, “Ford was able to materially reduce incentive spending during the third quarter, which should bolster the company’s North American results,” the firm said.

Rally indicates panic buys that may lead to sell-offs
The stock market’s six-month rally has likely included a bit of panic buying as investors don’t want to miss out.

But the dangerous thing about panic buying is that it’s “more likely to lead to crowded trades and ultimately to panic selling,” Bill Luby wrote on the VIX and More blog last week.

“So … if we have many panic buyers who have been chasing performance with long positions of questionable underlying value, then the potential for some high volatility trading in the next month or so may be higher than recent stock market activity has led many to believe,” Luby wrote.

Sears is likely to benefit from appliance-rebate plan
Sears may be well-positioned to benefit from the government’s “cash for appliance clunkers” program.

Sears is the largest carrier of energy-efficient appliances that qualify and already runs in-store appliance-rebate centers to help customers capture existing rebates that states provide.

The Energy Department is making available nearly $300 million starting in November or December to encourage purchases of improved home appliances.

— From wire reports