According to a report by Reuters, an analyst at Barclays, Brian Johnson has upgraded Fords stock to equal weight from underweight predicting the company may well beat earnings estimates for the third quarter.

Ford has benefited from pricing trends for both new and used cars, a fact that should see an earnings increase for the companys financing entity, Ford Credit. Fords shares enjoyed a 1.8 percent bump at 7.71 share.

Johnson increased his stock target price from 7 to 8 and decreased the third quarter estimated loss to only 7 cents a share instead of 16 cents.

In a note to clients, Johnson wrote, In addition to government scrappage cash for clunkers programs that skewed mix towards less profitable A and B segment cars, we believe the European region was also negatively impacted by a weaker pound versus the euro.

Ford is the only one of the three major American automakers that did not seek federal funding only to then undergo government supported bankruptcy proceedings in 2009. Consequently analysts tend to see Ford as stronger competitively than either General Motors or Chrysler Group LLC.