Lordtown Motors (Ride) revealed that an SEC investigation is underway after allegations of misleading investors by a short seller, while the electric truck startup reports progress on its pickup and new vans. Ride stock fell.
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Lordtown earnings report
The loss per share in Q4 has widened to 23 cents from 10 cents a year earlier on zero revenue, while operating operation costs and expenses have risen from $ 7.1 million to 6 38.6 million. No reliable Q4 estimates are available for a pre-revenue company. For 2020 all, the loss per share was $ 1.04 compared to 15 cents a year earlier.
LordTown said its endurance full-size pickup will begin production in September, with the first beta vehicles ready for testing by the end of March.
Management also said it is accelerating the development of another vehicle, a van, and will begin production in late 2022, with the unveiling of an exhibition vehicle this summer.
President Rich Schmidt said the plant’s retelling is on track and that partner General Motors (GM) has given access to critical parts which allows it to get vehicles in the market in six months fast. But Lordtown has engineered its own battery and is building its own battery production line, he added.
Lordtown has seen a cost of Rs 2,021 crore – Rs 250 million – Rs 5,275 million. This includes money to build a factory capacity to be able to produce 60,000 vehicles per year due to the development of new vans, as well as additional equipment and “higher endurance interest than originally expected” due to Covid-19 related high supply chain costs.
Lordtown estimates the fleet to be worth 65 65 billion and says endurance offers a 25% lower cost of ownership than conventional gas or diesel trucks. In investor representations, Lordstown used 100,000 pre-orders for endurance electric trucks, averaging 580 units per order.
But on March 12, Hindenburg Research accused Lordtown of making “largely fictitious” orders. The short seller had previously targeted Nicola (NKLA) and China Kandi Record (KNDI).
Lordtown CEO Steve Burns said last week that the short seller report contained half-truths and lies. On Wednesday, he disclosed the SEC investigation into the short seller report, and said the company was reviewing the claims.
Lordstown has previously said it made it clear that its orders were non-binding.
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Ride stock
The stock fell 3.6% after closing at 15.09, down 0.79% in mid-day trading on Thursday. Ride stock remains below the 50-day line and the 200-day line after a short seller report. GM, which has a %% stake in the company, has risen 5%. And Workhorse Group (WKHS), which has a 10% stake, added 1.4%.
LordTown enters a competitive market with GM, Tesla (TSLA), Ford (F), Amazon (AMZN) -Baked Revion and Canoe (GOEV) will also launch electric pickups in the next one to three years.
But the company said in a January release that it would come “first in the market” with its truck and called the September delivery target “physically ahead of the peers (more expensive) offer.”
According to CEO Burns, “The unique thing about this vehicle – it’s electric but it also has true four-wheel drive. The motors are in the wheels.”
Ride Stock was unveiled in October after completing a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
After its founding, in November 2019 purchased an old GM plant in Lordstown, Ohio. GM also supplies key parts for endurance EVs, which Lordstown says saves design time and costs to certify.
Search on Twitter Aparna Narayanan @IBD_Eparna.
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