Questions:

1. As a current investor, what is your overall assessment of Ford?

1. How would you describe Ford's comparative performance and financial position? Examine Ford's financial ratios. What does each ratio tell you about Ford's financial status?

1. As a current investor in Ford, which elements of financial performance are most important?

1. As John Smith in January 2018, would you buy more Ford stock, continue to hold current Ford stock, or sell the Ford stock? If you decide to sell in which other automotive manufacturers, would you invest?

On January 16, 2018, John Smith, a portfolio manager at Uria Investment, was made aware of the Ford Motor Company (Ford) safety recall schedule. Ford announced that it would recall more than one million vehicles worldwide as a result of faulty airbags that had failed to deploy upon collision, causing multiple deaths. It turned out that Ford had been aware of these faulty airbags but had not taken proactive measures to mitigate potential damage. This information was uncovered by the U.S. regulators who were investigating the multiple deaths in Ford vehicles. Because of the investigation, Ford's share price dropped from US$13.10 to US$12.18 per share on January 17, 2018. Smith was trying to anticipate the future of Ford, as the holding of the Ford equity represented a significant portion of his investment portfolios. Investors had already started contacting him about the future of the company and the state of their investments. Smith anticipated that given the recent announcement, Ford's share value would drop drastically, so he needed to act fast to mitigate the loss of value for his investors. Smith wondered whether Ford could recover from this disaster in the long term and whether its product safety would continue to be an issue and negatively affect its shareholders. While exploring different companies as potential places to reinvest the money, Smith wanted to remain in the automotive industry to maintain the portfolios' diversification. He had thus explored other companies such as Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), General Motors Company (GM), and Honda Motor Company Ltd. (Honda) as possible alternatives to Ford. FORD MOTOR COMPANY Ford Motor Company, headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, was an American multinational automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford in 1903. It was the second-largest automobile manufacturer based