Fisker Inc.’s stock, which fell toward another record low on Thursday, “has arguably become a ‘meme stock,’ ” according to Tom Bruni, lead writer of the Daily Rip & Markets newsletter at Stocktwits, a social platform for investors and traders.
“Fisker fostered a strong community of electric-vehicle-focused retail investors by going public via SPAC during the pandemic,” Bruni told MarketWatch via email. “However, like other ‘meme stocks,’ the company has since been unable to produce the business results it so confidently forecasted.”
Bruni cited original meme-stock darling AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC, +1.81% as a similar example, along with Fisker’s fellow EV makers Lucid Group Inc. LCID, +2.26%, Mullen Automotive Inc. MULN, -12.92% and VinFast Auto Ltd. VFS, +6.38%, all of which have seen spells of meme-like buzz.
Related: Fisker loses its biggest bull as EV maker’s stock breaks the buck
Fisker shares FSR, -2.69% briefly caught fire at the end of 2023, surging almost 16% on Dec. 29, but have tumbled since then and extended their nonwin streak to 12 sessions on Thursday. (Shares closed unchanged on Jan. 9.)
The stock, which tumbled below $ 1 for the first time earlier this week, ended Thursday’s session down 9.2%, hitting a sixth straight record-low close.
Short interest as a percentage of Fisker’s public float of shares is also high at 47.3%, according to the latest exchange data. That’s greater than the short-interest percentages of AMC (11.8%), Lucid (26.8%) and Mullen (28.5%).
Data: These are the companies with the highest proportions of shares sold short
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The EV maker is now revamping its business model in an attempt to boost sales, deliveries and its test-drive network. Earlier this month, Fisker abandoned its direct-sales model in the U.S. and introduced a new dealer-partnership business model. In Europe, the company intends to pursue a hybrid direct-sales and dealer model. Still, the company’s stock has continued its decline.
This week, Fisker lost its most bullish analyst, with T.D. Cowen’s Jeffrey Osborne citing the company’s “unanticipated growing pains” for his loss of faith.
“The company has been unable to deliver on its production and delivery targets, which is a significant problem for an automotive company,” Stocktwits’ Bruni told MarketWatch. “If they can’t figure out how to consistently and profitably produce and sell their vehicles, they’ll have to rely on continued financial engineering to survive.”
Related: Fisker introduces dealership model as it abandons direct sales, in an effort to boost deliveries, test-drive network
“And as investors saw with Bed Bath & Beyond, that strategy can only buy you time for so long,” Bruni said. Eventually, the underlying business trajectory becomes the only thing that matters, he explained.
Fisker’s stock has fallen 85.8% in the last three months, compared with the Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF’s DRIV gain of 1.5% and the S&P 500 index’s SPX gain of 11.8%.
In November, the Manhattan Beach, Calif.–based company reported a widening quarterly loss and sales that missed analysts’ expectations in its third-quarter results. However, Fisker said it produced 4,725 vehicles and sold 1,097 in the quarter.
Related: Fisker’s stock tanks 14% after EV maker widens loss, revenue comes in below estimates
The following month, Fisker announced it was ramping up its services teams, with nearly 100 technicians now serving customers in 20 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, the company said. In a business update on Dec. 29 that sent the company’s shares soaring, Fisker said that 10,142 Fisker Oceans were produced in 2023, and approximately 4,700 vehicles had been delivered.
On Thursday, the EV maker announced a luxury version of its Fisker Ocean. The Ocean Extreme Monterey Edition is expected to be available for customers to order in the second half of 2024, it said.
Tomi Kilgore and Claudia Assis contributed.