What is Ford Up To?

Over Christmas I analyzed Ford’s financial statements from the previous years and decided that the current $1.60 / share it was trading at was under its intrinsic value. A stock price I had anticipated some time earlier see the post. I invested and set a target sell price of $4.50-5.50. The stock has risen impressively since then and I have been patiently awaiting the $5.50 target.

Recently I received my shareholder’s proxy voting ballot, I’ve seen a few of these through the years with different companies, usually pretty uneventful but honestly I was a bit surprised by a few of the items we were voting on and how the board was recommending we vote:

I struggle to understand why a shareholder would vote in favor of diluting their future EPS like issue 3 and 4 do unless very, very bad times were ahead. The other voting recommendations are aimed at increasing the transparency of the company, and limiting executive compensation. These criteria look suspiciously like what GM had to guarantee to the government in order to receive bailout dollars. I know Ford has not received any bailout money as of yet but overall these recommendations don’t make me excited about the company’s future.

These sound like odd and slightly disturbing questions to be voting on, what do you think?