Bloomberg told the story of Nikola Corp. - it develops hybrid trucks that run on electricity and hydrogen fuel. Its shares began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange in early summer 2020 and almost instantly grew by 28%, and the company's capitalization amounted to $ 34 billion. At certain points in the trading, the company bypassed Ford Motor Co. in terms of capitalization.
At the same time, investors were not embarrassed by the fact that Nikola Corp. there is still no revenue, it plans to earn its first billion no earlier than 2023 (Ford's revenue in 2020 is $ 115 billion), and the truck factory in Arizona (not yet built) will be fully loaded only in 2028.
How can this be, and what else affects the valuation of the company's shares? Let's figure it out in our new article.
What's happening
In the past year, against the backdrop of massive growth in Tesla shares, controversy has intensified over how exactly to approach the valuation of such companies. However, Elon Musk's company does make electric cars, launches new models, and has a whole army of fans. In the case of Nikola Corp. for now, investors are simply believing the promise of a zero-emission truck.
The company was founded five years ago, and by the summer of 2020, its losses amounted to $ 188.5 million. Nikola Corp. plans to begin deliveries of the first Tre electric semi-trailer in 2021 and the larger hybrid Two in 2023.
Another model, the Badger pickup, is now available for pre-order, but production has not yet begun.
At the same time, in the documentation before the IPO, the company indicated that it plans to produce heavy trucks and does not plan to launch the assembly of Badger until a manufacturer with a well-established production for partnership is found for this.
Why do investors believe in Nikola?
By the end of last year, the company's accounts had $ 86 million, and before entering the stock exchange, it managed to attract another $ 500 million of private capital. Nikola plans to build an electric truck plant in Arizona with an area of over 90,000 square meters. Production start-up is scheduled for late 2021 or early 2022. The plant's capacity will be sufficient to produce 30,000 electric vehicles in 2027.
The company also announced pre-orders for 14,000 electric trucks. Management estimates that the contracts are worth approximately $ 10 billion. These are pending deals - the company is still in talks with potential buyers to convert preliminary agreements into binding documents requiring a deposit.
At the moment, this is enough for investors to believe in the company's shares and their further growth. Despite the fact that shares usually fall shortly after an IPO, the decline in the value of Nikola Corp. It turned out to be not particularly large:
In Russia, shares of American companies, including automakers and creators of electric vehicles - for example, Tesla - can be bought on the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange . To do this, you do not need to open an account with a foreign broker, a Russian account will be enough. You can open it online .
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