In a bulletin typical of the Russian-nesting-dolls-style news stories that so often seem to come out of Detroit, Reuters is reporting Barron's will soon report Ford per-share earnings "could" double next year to a buck and 44 cents. It would seem possible happy days are possibly here again...umm, possibly?

Perhaps. Whether through good PR flackage or due to "profits" last year being "up," from negative $12.6 billion to roughly negative $3 billion, credit for this remarkable and seemingly "impossible turnaround" are pointing straight at Ford CEO Alan Mulally. Mulally's the same man credited with turning Boeing around, either by starting the ambitious 787 "Dreamliner" project or by firing everyone who was not actually flying an airplane at the time. We're assuming that's the reason FoMoCo's paying him that $21.7 million. Anyway, one enthusiastic hedge fund manager is saying that despite their still-in-the-red status and expected sales declines from the sputtering U.S. economy, Ford stock might could perhaps possibly still see a doubling in value. Of course that's mostly because every negative anyone could ever imagine's already factored into the bargain basement stock price.

Hey, we'll take our positive domestic auto industry news where we can find it these days.

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