Nikola Corp. on Thursday night reported a narrower-than-expected adjusted quarterly loss and said it is reorienting its “core businesses” around heavy-duty battery and fuel cell electric trucks.
Nikola NKLA,
It said it lost $ 147 million, or 38 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $ 26 million, or 16 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Adjusted for one-time items, the company lost 17 cents a share, compared with a loss of 9 cents a share a year ago.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected Nikola to report an adjusted loss of 24 cents a share. Nikola is a pre-revenue company.
Nikola’s shares rose more than 3% immediately after the gains, but at the last check they were down 2% after the end of the regular trading day with a drop of 6.8%. As the professional of the session
“Nikola made the necessary changes to reorient and realign the company” in the fourth quarter, Chief Executive Officer Mark Russell said in a statement. The company realigned its resources “with a laser focus on our core businesses: hydrogen fuel and battery electric trucks, heavy trucks and hydrogen refueling infrastructure.”
Nikola detailed plans for its commercial hydrogen fuel cell trucks on Tuesday, saying it hopes to introduce a longer-range fuel cell variant to its Nikola Tre battery-electric commercial truck. The first Tre fuel cell prototypes are expected to begin road testing in 2022, the company said.
The company said Thursday that it had completed assembly of its first five Nikola Tre battery electric prototypes, four of which are undergoing testing in the United States and one in Europe. Assembly of a second batch of prototypes has started in Germany, Nikola said.
Nikola’s shares have gained 90% in the last 12 months, compared to an advance of around 23% for the S&P 500 SPX index.
Nikola last year scratched plans for his Badger pickup when he struck a deal with General Motors Co. GM,
It didn’t go as far as planned.
The electric truck startup went public in June after a merger with a blank check company, and the stock quickly soared to triple-digit gains.
Later in the summer, however, Hindenburg, a short seller, alleged in a report that the company amounted to “intricate fraud.” The report, which the company called “misleading” and a “successful job,” has sparked federal investigations.