Ford Motor Company (F), General Motors Company (GM) & Surprising Stocks to Buy Now

In the first quarter, GM sales were up 9% as a company versus last year. Its Cadillac brand – led by the 2013 Detroit Auto Show “Car of The Year” ATS model – was up 38%. Buick, GMC, and Chevy were up 28%, 14%, and 5%, respectively. Most importantly, full-size pickup sales were up 21%, bringing in large margins for GM.

GM is a step behind Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) in releasing new models, but plans to redesign or refresh 90% of its vehicles in North America by 2016. So far, 2013 has started off to be a great year for GM and I believe the new vehicles will significantly boost GM’s sales numbers and revenues over the next few years.

Bottom-line growth
Top-line revenues are important, but in the past these two automakers have struggled to stay profitable on the bottom line. That isn’t the case anymore – their bottom lines have been consistently profitable. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) jumped the gun and returned to profitability ahead of schedule with its CEO’s “One Ford” plan that quickly trimmed the amount of platforms used globally. By year’s end 85% of global sales will be from nine platforms, and plans are in place to cut even more by 2016, creating economies of scale. It’s also running factories at or near capacity, creating a much lower overhead cost.

GM is a bit behind Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) but plans to cut its number of platforms in half over the next five years. As of now, it is estimated that these two can break even once the U.S. market accounts for 10 million vehicles sold. As of March, the U.S. is on pace to hit between 15.3 and 15.4 million.

Europe is struggling, and the massive losses automakers have incurred are partly to blame for holding stock prices down. When Europe losses begin to subside, and China sales pick up, I’m betting Ford and GM stock prices surge. Ford and GM are in a better situation than they’ve been in for a decade, and it looks to only get better. That’s why Ford and GM are two stocks to buy now.

The article 2 Surprising Stocks to Buy Now originally appeared on Fool.com.

Motley Fool contributor Daniel Miller owns shares of Ford and General Motors. The Motley Fool recommends Ford and General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of Ford.

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