Nikola's stock falls as revenue more than doubled but fell short of forecasts

By Tomi Kilgore

The number of trucks produced dropped, but the number shipped rose

Shares of Nikola Corp. fell Thursday, after the battery- and hydrogen-powered trucks maker beat fourth-quarter bottom-line expectations, while revenue more than doubled but fell short of forecasts.

The company said it delivered its first hydrogen fuel cell electric truck during the quarter, and delivered a total of 35 trucks during the period, to leave "no finished goods" in inventory.

"There are more requests [in California] for our fuel cell truck alone than all other truck [original equipment manufacturers] combined on both battery and hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks in the same period," said Chief Executive Steve Girsky.

The stock (NKLA) dropped 1.1% in morning trading. It has closed below the $1 level every session since Dec. 5.

The selloff followed the losses seen in the shares of other electric vehicle makers that reported results after Wednesday's close, as Rivian Automotive Inc.'s stock (RIVN) plunged 23.5% and Lucid Group Inc. shares (LCID) shed 9.3%. Meanwhile, EV leader Tesla Inc.'s stock (TSLA) lost 0.9%.

Also read: EV maker Nikola rejects convicted founder Trevor Milton's plan to add 5 board members.

For the quarter to Dec. 31, net losses narrowed to $153.6 million, or 14 cents a share, from $222.1 million, or 46 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.

Excluding nonrecurring items, the adjusted per-share loss of 11 cents beat the FactSet loss consensus of 13 cents.

Total revenue jumped 111.1% to $11.53 million, but missed the FactSet consensus of $13.2 million.

The number of trucks produced fell to 42 from 133, while the number shipped hiked up to 35 from 20.

Regarding the recall of trucks announced in August 2023 for a battery issue, the company said it remains on track to deliver the first "re-worked" battery-electric trucks with new battery packs back to users by the end of the first quarter. And CEO Girsky said he believes all trucks will be returned to end-user fleets by the end of the second quarter or early in the third quarter.

The stock has tumbled 26.1% over the past three months, while the Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF DRIV has gained 3.6% and the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 10.7%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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02-22-24 0942ET

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