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Ford Owns 13.06M Shares in Recently-Public Velodyne Lidar
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Ford Motor Company (F - Free Report) recently announced the holding of a 7.6% ownership stake in Velodyne Lidar Inc. post Monday’s trading session. This equates to holding 13.06 million shares of the new public entity.
Velodyne Lidar is an autonomous-driving company having forte in developing vehicle sensors used in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), self-driving cars and trucks. The company came public last month via a merger with blank-check company Graf Industrial Corp. Shares of the company tumbled in the market post the public debut.
Nonetheless, following the news of Ford’s shareholding in Velodyne Lidar, shares of the latter rallied 4.4% to $16.95 during the after-hours trading on Monday.
In 2016, Ford became a partial owner in Velodyne Lidar along with Baidu Inc. and had jointly invested $150 million in the company. Ford was not subject to a customary lockup period and was free to sell its shares when Velodyne Lidar becomes a publicly-traded company.
Future of Driving is Autonomous
Higher levels of autonomy have the potential to reduce risky and dangerous driver behavior. The rapid development in the self-driving vehicle space can be attributed to breakthroughs in technology, with the integration of robust AI and ML capabilities in advanced driver-assistance systems. Moreover, improving the neural networking capabilities, and advancements in digital mapping and obstacle recognition functionalities will likely lead to safer navigation, reduction in accidents, as well as commuter comfort. Per Allied Market Research, the autonomous driving space is expected to witness a CAGR of 39.5% between 2019 and 2026, and reach $556.67 billion by 2026.
Also, with electric vehicles being the hottest trend in the auto industry, Ford has vowed to become carbon free by 2050, and is making considerable strides toward achieving this aim.
Hence, Ford’s new CEO Jim Farley has made electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles a huge priority for the company. He has decided to take aggressive efforts to remodel automotive operations and allocate funds to high-growth opportunities in the zeal to manufacture innovative electric and fully autonomous vehicles at scale. Other renowned automakers making considerable progress in the autonomous vehicle space are Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) and General Motors (GM - Free Report) .
Ford, peers of which include General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles , had ramped up its self-driving plans by partnering with start-ups, including Velodyne Lidar, on developing a fully autonomous car for ride-share and taxis. It was initially planned to roll out the cars in 2021, but the launch has further been delayed. Moreover, the Detroit-based automaker’s stake in the lidar company will aid it in procuring sensors for ADAS and self-driving cars. Ford is optimistic that its relationship with the lidar company will help the automaker in its pursuit of revolutionizing the autonomous vehicle industry.
With the greater use of ADAS systems in consumer cars and growth of autonomous vehicle companies whose systems rely on lidar, Velodyne Lidar expects its revenues and profits to increase in the near future. Yet, the timeline for fleets of autonomous vehicles being deployed in the real world is still not clear.
Reportedly, the Ford-backed lidar expert forecasts revenue growth of 60% per year, with estimated sales of $100 million this year. The company anticipates the top line to rise to $680 million by 2024, half of which will be derived from the existing partnerships.
Notably, shares of Ford have declined 24.5%, year to date, as against its industry’s rally of 130%.
Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential
The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.
Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.
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Ford Owns 13.06M Shares in Recently-Public Velodyne Lidar
Ford Motor Company (F - Free Report) recently announced the holding of a 7.6% ownership stake in Velodyne Lidar Inc. post Monday’s trading session. This equates to holding 13.06 million shares of the new public entity.
Velodyne Lidar is an autonomous-driving company having forte in developing vehicle sensors used in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), self-driving cars and trucks. The company came public last month via a merger with blank-check company Graf Industrial Corp. Shares of the company tumbled in the market post the public debut.
Nonetheless, following the news of Ford’s shareholding in Velodyne Lidar, shares of the latter rallied 4.4% to $16.95 during the after-hours trading on Monday.
In 2016, Ford became a partial owner in Velodyne Lidar along with Baidu Inc. and had jointly invested $150 million in the company. Ford was not subject to a customary lockup period and was free to sell its shares when Velodyne Lidar becomes a publicly-traded company.
Future of Driving is Autonomous
Higher levels of autonomy have the potential to reduce risky and dangerous driver behavior. The rapid development in the self-driving vehicle space can be attributed to breakthroughs in technology, with the integration of robust AI and ML capabilities in advanced driver-assistance systems. Moreover, improving the neural networking capabilities, and advancements in digital mapping and obstacle recognition functionalities will likely lead to safer navigation, reduction in accidents, as well as commuter comfort. Per Allied Market Research, the autonomous driving space is expected to witness a CAGR of 39.5% between 2019 and 2026, and reach $556.67 billion by 2026.
Also, with electric vehicles being the hottest trend in the auto industry, Ford has vowed to become carbon free by 2050, and is making considerable strides toward achieving this aim.
Hence, Ford’s new CEO Jim Farley has made electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles a huge priority for the company. He has decided to take aggressive efforts to remodel automotive operations and allocate funds to high-growth opportunities in the zeal to manufacture innovative electric and fully autonomous vehicles at scale. Other renowned automakers making considerable progress in the autonomous vehicle space are Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) and General Motors (GM - Free Report) .
Ford, peers of which include General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles , had ramped up its self-driving plans by partnering with start-ups, including Velodyne Lidar, on developing a fully autonomous car for ride-share and taxis. It was initially planned to roll out the cars in 2021, but the launch has further been delayed. Moreover, the Detroit-based automaker’s stake in the lidar company will aid it in procuring sensors for ADAS and self-driving cars. Ford is optimistic that its relationship with the lidar company will help the automaker in its pursuit of revolutionizing the autonomous vehicle industry.
With the greater use of ADAS systems in consumer cars and growth of autonomous vehicle companies whose systems rely on lidar, Velodyne Lidar expects its revenues and profits to increase in the near future. Yet, the timeline for fleets of autonomous vehicles being deployed in the real world is still not clear.
Reportedly, the Ford-backed lidar expert forecasts revenue growth of 60% per year, with estimated sales of $100 million this year. The company anticipates the top line to rise to $680 million by 2024, half of which will be derived from the existing partnerships.
Ford currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Notably, shares of Ford have declined 24.5%, year to date, as against its industry’s rally of 130%.
Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential
The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.
Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.
See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>