EV stocks trade mostly lower in the wake of Fisker's bankruptcy

By Tomi Kilgore

Mullen Automotive and Nikola have both issued 'going concern' warnings in their latest quarterly filings

Shares of electric-vehicle makers traded mostly lower Tuesday, as the bankruptcy of Fisker Inc., while not completely a surprise, still sent some shivers through the sector.

Fisker's stock (FSRN) was the highlight, as it plunged 57.2% in morning trading after the bankruptcy filing. The company said its manufacturing pause will remain in place while it looks to sell its assets.

Shares of EV-sector leader Tesla Inc. (TSLA) took a 1.5% hit, but that was after they surged 5.3% on Monday. What may also be weighing on Tesla's stock was the report of not-so-favorable data out of China.

Texas-based Tesla generated $4.6 billion in revenue in China during its first quarter, or roughly 22% of total revenue. And the company had $2.76 billion in long-lived assets in China, or 7.5% of the total.

Data out of China showed that while auto exports in May rose about 30% from a year ago, exports of new-energy vehicles fell 9.1% to suffer the largest decline in recent years, according to a J.P. Morgan research note, with Tesla also seeing weakness.

The weakness in NEV exports out of China followed the announcement in May by the U.S. of a big jump in tariffs on EVs from China, and the announcement by the European Commission last week of an investigation into EV exports from China.

The tariffs raised concerns about exports from China slowing further, as well as increased competition inside China, J.P. Morgan analyst Akira Kishimoto said.

"Amid sluggish domestic demand, we need to keep in mind the risk that the supply-demand balance will worsen in the Chinese market and price competition will intensify further," Kishimoto wrote in a note to clients.

The Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF DRIV was down 0.3%.

Elsewhere, shares of Rivian Automotive Inc. (RIVN) dropped 1.1%. The stock had gained 0.7% on Monday, to snap a four-day losing streak.

Shares of Nikola Corp. (NKLA), which have closed below $1 every session since April 10, lost 0.7%.

Mullen Automotive Inc.'s stock (MULN) bucked the weakness in its peers to edge up 0.4%. The EV maker has had three reverse stock splits in the past 13 months, which have multiplied the stock price by 22,500 in total.

Both Nikola and Mullen have said in their latest quarterly filings that there was "substantial doubt" about their abilities to continue as going concerns.

Among China-based EV makers, shares of Nio Inc. (NIO) slipped 0.2%, XPeng Inc.'s stock (XPEV) ticked up 0.5% and Li Auto Inc.'s stock (LI) gave up 1.1%.

The U.S.-listed shares of BYD Co. Ltd. (BYDDY) (CN:002594) tacked on 1.1% toward a seven-month high.

-Tomi Kilgore

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06-18-24 1018ET

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