Nikola, a company that produces hydrogen fuel cells and battery-powered electric trucks, has just gone public. Its inventories have more than doubled in the last few days. And Nikola’s president brags about it on Twitter.
Shares of Nikola – the first name of the famous inventor Tesla – is 120% more since it merged with the already public school company called VectoIQ on June 3.
Shares jumped 103% on Monday alone, although it fell 22% in volatile trading early Tuesday morning. wider market before it bounces. Nikola shares ended the day with a 9% gain.
With Tesla shares, which have also jumped to an almost record high lately, the day ended by 1%.
Monday’s meteor gains followed founder Nikola and CEO Trevor Milton issued a series of tweets touting pre-orders for Badger truck. Shares rose another 27% in the open on Tuesday before falling.
Nikola started trading under that name last week after signing a contract with VectoIQ – a special purpose company (SPAC) without its own assets formed solely to merge with a private company that wants to go public. (Richard Branson Virgo Galactic(SPCE) and fantasy sports / betting DraftKings both have also recently become public.
VectoIQ, which changed its name to Nikola last week after the merger and designated the NKLA, has already risen more than 600% in 2020 – with most of those gains coming after Nikola announced plans to buy VectoIQ in March.
Nikola, which also produces semi-trailers, is now worth about $ 26 billion based on Monday’s closure, though it is not expected to make any sales, let alone profits, by 2021.
That is why the company is more valuable than Beam(F) and Fiat Chrysler(FCAU) and is quickly compensated GM(GM) – a fact Milton boasted about on Twitter on Monday, saying he “wanted to say it my whole adult life; the $ NKLA is now worth more than Ford and the FCA. Niping on GM’s heels.”
Nikola has already announced sales to large customers, including the order of 800 trucks from the Budweiser brewery Anheuser-Busch InBev(BUD) and a multimillion-dollar order with a freight forwarder US Xpress Enterprises(USX).
The company has also achieved the top talent for the automotive industry that it wants to take advantage of Tesla(TSLA), which plans to launch both electric halves and its futuristic Cybertruck. Nikola announced last week that former GM vice president Stephen Girsky, who was the CEO of VectoIQ, is now on his board.
He is one of Nikola’s best investors CNH(CNHI), a global industrial conglomerate that produces tractors, buses and construction equipment. CNH announced on Monday that its truck subsidiary IVECO now owns a 7.1% stake in Nikola.
