On January 24, Nikola’s stock fell sharply following the fourth-quarter earnings report, falling short of expectations. The truck maker was able to meet the bottom line expectations of the analysts with its earnings and doubled the revenue but failed to reach the forecast. Nikola reported that it delivered its first hydrogen fuel cell electric truck this quarter, bringing the total to 35 trucks, and leaving no finished trucks in inventory.
Stephen Girsky, CEO of Nikola, said, “There are more requests in California for our fuel cell truck alone than all other truck (original equipment manufacturers) combined on both battery and hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks in the same period.”
Nikola Stock Fell Amid Low Earning Reports
On Thursday morning trading, the stock dropped below 1.1%. The price has closed below the $1 level in every session since December 5. For the quarter ending December 31, net losses decreased to $153.6 million, or 14 cents per share, compared to $222.1 million, or 46 cents per share, a year earlier.
The selloff came after other electric vehicle makers posted losses, with Rivian Automotive’s stock dropping 23.5%, Lucid Group’s shares falling 9.3%, and Tesla losing 0.9%. In the past three months, Nikola has been underperforming as stock has fallen by 26.1%, while the Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF has risen 3.6%, and the S&P 500 is up 10.7%.
Nikola CEO to Step Down
Nikola’s shares dropped 21.4% in the afternoon after rumors about CEO Stephen Girsky’s possible exit sparked bankruptcy concerns. Fred Lambert, editor of Electrek, posted on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “The bankruptcy filing is already with the lawyers.” Nikola has not yet commented on the speculation.
Nikola’s shares are highly volatile, with 88 moves over 5% in the past year. However, such large swings are rare for the company, showing that this news has notably affected how the market views the business.
Nikola Stock Update
Six months ago, Nikola reported its second-quarter earnings blowing the analysts’ expectations, followed by a stock gain of 19%. The company sold 72 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles in Q2, surpassing the top end of its previous forecast, signaling strong demand. Overall, the company still faces challenges with scale and profits.
Nikola has dropped 34.5% this year and, at $0.85 per share, is now 97.3% below its 52-week high of $31.20 from March 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 of Nikola stock 5 years ago would now have just $2.72.
