Ford Stock Set for Best Month Since 2009 Financial Crisis

Ford dealership R&S in Cologne, Germany. (Alex Kraus/Bloomberg)

Ford Motor Co. shares are set to record their best monthly gain in 17 years as the automaker’s newfound status as a possible beneficiary of the artificial intelligence boom sparked an investor frenzy. 

The Dearborn, Mich.-based car company’s stock has surged more than 40% in May, the biggest monthly advance since April 2009. Back then, the stock climbed a walloping 127% as it managed to steer through the financial crisis even while its biggest rivals, General Motors Co. and Chrysler, tipped toward bankruptcies. 

Ford shares were rising for the eighth straight trading session May 29, set for their longest winning streak in three years. The rally has taken the stock to its highest level since April 2022 at the May 28 close, as investors became fixated on the automaker’s grid-battery business and its potential to benefit from the relentless demand for energy to power AI tools.

“The company conceivably will not make money in battery storage until 2028 so this is more about hopes and dreams than facts,” said Joe Gilbert, portfolio manager at Integrity Asset Management.

The stock’s torrid rally kicked off after Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco said in a note dated May 12 that the energy business could be worth $10 billion and predicted Ford could soon strike deals with hyperscalers. The theory is that Ford Energy will be able to provide battery energy storage systems to utilities, data centers and large industrial firms.

Eric Diton, president and managing director at The Wealth Alliance, said that “energy storage is not a far stretch for Ford given its EV business.” Electric vehicle titan Tesla Inc. has long offered energy storage. The segment comprised 13.5% of Tesla’s revenue in 2025, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Unlike Ford, fellow Michigan automakers haven’t seen the same degree of success. As of the May 28 close, General Motors’ stock had gained nearly 10% in May, while Stellantis NV’s U.S.-listed shares were up about 13%. GM and Stellantis trade at 6.4 and 6.5 times forward earnings, respectively. 

“I do think you’ll see more automakers push into adjacent areas like energy storage, autonomy, infrastructure and even robotics,” Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer at Karobaar Capital, said. “Part of it is real strategy, but part of it is also the market basically telling them ‘don’t just be a car company.’”

The sudden transformation of Ford from a stodgy old-economy manufacturer to an AI laureate is the latest example of a wider market trend: investors are hunting for businesses that are set to gain from the mass buildout of data centers and other infrastructure that will be needed to support the expansion of AI applications. 

Caterpillar Inc. may be famous for its signature yellow bulldozers, but its stock has surged more than 150% over the past 12 months as buyers gravitated toward the growth potential of its power generation equipment business. Meanwhile, data center sales have led to a 190% rally in Vertiv Holdings Co. shares over the same period. Even Ajinomoto Co., a seasoning maker in Japan, has seen shares climb 55% just this year as its insulating film has been used in semiconductor packaging. 

“The market is rewarding ‘AI adjacency’ almost as much as actual AI right now,” with investors “paying a huge premium for anything tied to long duration AI or energy infrastructure growth,” Khurshid said. Karobaar is a longtime holder of Ford stock, he said.

For investors looking for the next AI winner, industrial stalwarts often offer a much more economical entry point than their flashier tech peers. Ford is the 471st cheapest stock in the S&P 500 Index, trading at 9.7 times forward earnings as of the May 28 close. That multiple has swelled 33% since April 30 as the stock price soared, and yet it’s still far cheaper than the equity benchmark’s average price-to-earnings ratio of 21, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100’s valuation of nearly 25. 

Some bearish traders are already looking for an exit.

Ford’s stock has seen 22.3 million shares — worth $369 million — of short covering over the last 30 days, according to S3 Partners data as of the May 27 close. Ford shorts are down $395 million, or 24%, in 30-day mark-to-market losses in a sign that “short sellers are exiting their position as Ford’s stock price rose,” according to S3’s Ihor Dusaniwsky.

Retail investors aren’t driving the rally, according to Vanda Research data. Participation from mom-and-pop traders has been “relatively subdued” and even “a net headwind in the past few trading days,” Vanda’s Ashwin Bhakre said.

“Momentum is a powerful factor and the stock has valuation much cheaper than the market,” said Integrity Asset’s Gilbert, who doesn’t hold Ford and doesn’t plant to buy the stock for its energy business. 

“The base business is OK but not great, and fundamentals will ultimately matter,” he said.