Ford stock hits 2-year high on Soros investment November 17, 2009 - 2:04 pm ET
UPDATED: 11/17/09 4:16 p.m. ET
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. stock today reached a new two-year high after disclosures that billionaire investor George Soros' hedge fund bought a 7.3 million-share stake in the automaker.
Ford shares briefly hit the $9 mark this morning for the first time since October 2007. Ford shares closed the day at $8.98, up 27 cents or 3.1 percent on heavy volume.
According to a regulatory filing on Monday, Soros Fund Management took the 7.3 million stake in Ford during the third quarter. The stake, roughly 0.2 percent of Ford's outstanding shares, is valued at $53 million.
The 79-year-old Soros, a native of Hungary, is a well-known investor, executive, philanthropist, and political activist. He made his original fortune through his private investment fund, Quantum.
He timed his investment during a quarter in which Ford turned a surprise $997 million profit and improved its cash position by $2.8 billion.
Ford shares have been on an upward trajectory since bottoming out in November 2008 at $1.26 a share. Unlike General Motors and Chrysler, Ford avoided seeking government assistance this year and has made several moves to shore up its finances in recent weeks.
Moreover, Ford's product lineup has been widely praised, and its U.S. market share has improved from 15.0 to 15.8 percent over the past year. Ford's U.S. light-vehicle sales are down 21 percent for the first 10 months of the year, but that's still better than the overall 25 percent decline in vehicle sales this year.
