Ford Motor Company (F), General Motors Company (GM): What Could Drive This Automaker Higher?

General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) had, by far, the most hedge-fund interest among the major automakers; there were a total of 98 hedge funds long the stock going into 2013. The top owner (by market value) was billionaire Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, with a $721 million position (check out Buffett’s high upside picks). Meanwhile, fellow billionaire David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital wasn’t far behind with a $610 million position.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) had 58 hedge funds long the stock, with Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Capital having the largest position, making up 2.8% of the fund’s 13F portfolio (check out Legg Mason’s best small caps). Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) had a mere nine hedge funds long the stock at the end of 2012, a 10% decrease form the previous quarter. The company’s largest hedge-fund owner was billionaire Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, with only a $9.2 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio (check out Simons’ cheap picks). Toyota had little hedge fund interest as well, albeit a bit more than Honda. There were a total of 14 hedge funds long the stock going into 2013.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) appears to be effectively working its turnaround and is also relatively cheap. Ford trades at only 9.3 times forward earnings, compared to General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)’s 10.6, Honda’s 18.5 and Toyota’s 20.9. This is also encouraging when you consider that Ford has an ROE of 34% and GM is at 18%, with both Toyota and Honda at only 7%. Oh, and Ford pays investors a solid 2.9% dividend yield (read more about Ford’s great dividend).