Return to Operations Gives Ford Stock a Boost

Ford announced plans to restart production and operation in North American this month

The shares of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) are up 2.6% to trade at$5 this morning, after the automaker announced plans to start phasing in production and operations in North America, beginning May 18. Ford said it would bring back some employees whose jobs cannot be done remotely on that date, while staggering the return of approximately 12,000 "location-dependent" employees.

Ford stock has been chopping higher since hitting a 10-year low of $3.96 on March 23, though it has continually run out of steam at the $5.50 region. The 50-day is also applying some pressure on the charts, as continues to loom overhead today. The equity is set to close atop its 40-day moving average, once more, after dancing around the trendline since late-April, though F is still staring down a year-to-date loss of 50%.

The majority of analysts covering the stock are unenthusiastic, with 7 sporting a lukewarm "hold," and one recommending a "strong sell, compared to just three "buy" or better ratings. Meanwhile, the consensus 12-month price target of $5.73 sits at a 17.7% premium to current levels.

In the options pits, Ford stock sports 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.97 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which sits in the elevated 93rd percentile of its annual range. This implies that while calls are still outnumbering puts on an overall basis, these bearish bets have rarely been more popular.