'These Are Not EV Names Yet': Why Pete Najarian Is Backing Out Of Ford, GM Stock

Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) was featured as the call of the day Thursday on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report."

What Happened: Barclays analyst Brian Johnson downgraded Ford from an Overweight rating to an Equal-Weight rating and lowered the price target from $23 to $17.

Despite the recent selloff, Johnson believes investors are still underestimating risks to the auto industry from inflation and supply chain pressures, as well as the impact of interest rate hikes.

Johnson cites supply chain headwinds as the main reason for the downgrade as the analyst expects the chip shortage to continue to cause problems for Ford and other auto manufacturers.

See Also: Ford Motor's Stock Heads South: Here's Where To Watch For A Reversal

Najarian's Take: Market Rebellion co-founder Pete Najarian told CNBC he sold out of his Ford call options and would have done the same with his General Motors Co (NYSE: GM) calls if there was any value remaining.

"GM [call options] are just going to go away worthless, I'll be the first to tell you," Najarian said. "We had a great run, both Ford and GM were exploding to the upside and then they weren't."

Ford shares have come down about as fast as they went up, he noted.

"I think what people finally realized was ok these two companies were doing a great job with the EV space, but they're not there yet and they're not delivering at any kind of a pace that everybody's ultimately incredibly excited about so I think that's why we see the kind of pullback we're seeing now," Najarian said.

It seems he largely agrees with the analyst call on the legacy automakers.

"It's going to take a little while," he said. "These are not EV names yet."

F Price Action: Ford shares have traded between $11.14 and $25.87 over a 52-week period.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, the stock was down 5.23% at $14.59 at time of publication.

Photo: courtesy of Ford.