Nikola's stock soars again after Mary Chan named new COO

By Tomi Kilgore

EV maker's shares charge up nearly 80% in 3 sessions

Shares of Nikola Corp. charged higher Monday, adding to the recent sharp gains, after the electric-vehicle maker named Mary Chan as its new chief operating officer, effective Oct. 9.

Chan was a managing partner at VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., which was the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that Nikola merged with to go public.

The stock (NKLA) soared 30.3% in midday trading. It has rocketed 79.3% over the past three sessions since newly named Chief Executive Steve Girsky said last Thursday that the production of its hydrogen fuel cell trucks would not be affected by the recent recall of its battery-electric trucks.

Trading volume rocketed to 203.9 million shares, compared with the full-day average over the past 30 days of 77.5 million shares.

Chan will be tasked with leading Nikola's engineering, program, product, supply chain and manufacturing teams. She was hired to streamline decision-making processes.

"Mary brings a solid understanding of business, combined with extensive experience in technology and transportation, spanning both engineering and management," said CEO Girsky. "Her expertise will be a tremendous asset to the Nikola team."

Chan has spent time as president of the global connected consumer group and General Motors Co. (GM), as general manager of enterprise mobility solutions and services at Dell Inc. (DELL), and is currently on the board of directors of Magna International Inc. (MG.T), SBA Communications Corp. (SBAC) and CommScope Holding Co. Inc. (COMM)

Despite the stock's recent rally, the stock has but has tumbled 37.6% since Girsky was named CEO on Aug. 4, while Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF DRIV has shed 7.0% over the same time and the S&P 500 index has slipped 0.3%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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09-18-23 1258ET

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