None of the major automotive powerhouses can beat Nikola Corp.. 's stock performance Even though Tesla shares have hit an all-time high and Hertz Global Holdings is well above where it was when the company filed for bankruptcy, none can match the comparison.
The ambitious -electric battery and hydrogen-powered truck maker made its Nasdaq debut last week following a “ reverse merger ” with a “ blank-check ” company led by a former General Motors executive . Their stock more than doubled on Monday, and Nikola traded up another 30% to $95 after the close . That gave the company a richer market capitalization than nearly 117-year-old F-150 maker Ford Motor Co. , which is expected to post more than $ 115 billion in revenue this year .
Skeptics have long questioned the market of Tesla, which has yet to report annual earnings. With Nikola’s market cap pushing to $26 billion at Monday’s close, investors have been weighing in on the zero-emission vehicle maker named after the Serbian-American inventor.
Nikola CEO Trevor Miltoncited several factors that could be behind the stock's sudden gain , and provided examples, including his tweetannouncing that the company would begin taking inventory to accelerate Badger.
" Nikola 's first goal is to have stable growth over time ."
From its early days five years ago to the end of last year, the Phoenix-based company has lost at least $188.5 million. It plans to start delivering its battery-electric semi-truck Tre next year, followed by two models , slated for 2023.
The Badger model that Milton said might have excited the market on Monday may not make it to production. In its public offering filing, Nikola said it has put more emphasis on building Class 8 heavy-duty vehicles, rather than building the Badger, unless it finds a partner to work on it together.
Last week, Milton handed over the CEO position to Mark Russel, a former CEO of structural metallurgistWorthington Industries Inc., who had been president since February 2019. The company it merged with, VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., is run by Steve Girsky, the former vice president who helped it emerge from bankruptcy.
At the end of last year, the company had about $86 million in cash. Before going public, it had raised more than $500 million in private capital, though that includes a $150 million contribution from CNH Industrial NV, the truck maker linked to the Italian billionaire Angeli family. CNH also invested $100 million in Nikola last year.
The merger with CNH includes an investment split between Europe, which aims to start production of battery electric trucks in Germany in the first half of next year, and North America, which Nikola will own entirely.
While Nikola's inventory of 14,000 electric trucks is worth more than $10 million, no deal has been finalized. The company told potential investors in April that it was in talks with partners to convert pre-orders into binding contracts with deposits.
While Milton is having a good time, with his net worth at $9 billion, he still has something on his wish list that the Tesla CEO has: the blue Twitter.
