Nikola stock sinks 10% on three big announcements: find out more

Nikola Corp (NASDAQ: NKLA) – the American manufacturer of heavy-duty commercial electric vehicles made three big announcements on Friday. Its shares are down nearly 15% at writing.

Nikola trims its future guidance

The EV company now forecasts its revenue to fall between $100 million and $130 million in 2023.

Nikola also said today that it will deliver up to 400 battery-powered trucks this year – down from up to 500 it had guided for earlier. The Nasdaq-listed firm sounded the alarm on gross margin as well.

It now expects the full-year gross margin to be as bad as negative 110% versus its previous outlook of negative 95% at worst.

Margin and production weren’t pretty in its recently concluded fiscal second quarter either. Nikola did top Street estimates for per-share loss and revenue in Q2, though.  

Nikola names a new CEO

Michael Lohscheller – the Chief Executive of Nikola Corp stepped down effective immediately on Friday.

The Utah-based company attributed his decision to “family health matter” and named Chairman Steve Girsky as his successor – who said in a press release today:

Since Nikola’s inception, I’ve been a champion of its mission. I’m energized to take on this role and …. continue to execute on our strategy and deliver on our milestones to best serve our partners, customers, and suppliers.

Lohscheller will continue to serve as an advisor through September, as per the press release. Nikola stock is still up 30% at writing versus the price at which it started the year.

Nikola to increase number of shares

Lastly, the shareholders of Nikola Corp finally approved the proposal to increase the total number of shares today. The Nasdaq-listed firm had to make several attempts to get its investors onboard with that plan which CEO Lohscheller said was:

Critical for continued growth and success as we move forward with our strategic priorities, including autonomous technologies and software and our HYLA hydrogen ecosystem.

Wall Street currently has a consensus “hold” rating on Nikola stock.