Nauticus Robotics stock: why is it up 60% on Tuesday?

Nauticus Robotics Inc (NASDAQ: KITT) is up a whopping 60% on Tuesday even though there hasn’t been an announcement or news that could have catalysed such a huge surge in its share price. 

Is Nauticus Robotics stock seeing a short squeeze?

The price action suggests that $KITT may have become a target of pump and dump considering the unusually high trading volume today. 

More than 200 million shares of Nauticus Robotics have exchanged hands as of writing on Tuesday. That’s up massively versus their average daily trading volume of about 14 million only. 

Close to 12% of Nauticus Robotics shares are currently sold short. 

Note that Nauticus Robotics stock ended up close to 50% on Monday as well. Still, the ocean technology company is down some 40% versus the start of 2024. 

$KITT shares are vulnerable to manipulation

Nauticus Robotics has not made a significant announcement, published a press release, or filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission in recent days. 

There hasn’t been a research note on $KITT stock either. 

Still, shares of Nauticus Robotics have rallied over the past 48 hours perhaps because it’s a penny stock with a market cap of under $15 million at writing. That makes it vulnerable to volatility and manipulation. 

The surge in Nauticus Robotics stock arrives months after the company secured over $12 million in new funding including a $9.5 million loan package and named John Gibson - a former Halliburton executive its interim CEO. 

Nauticus Robotics swung to a profit in Q1

Last month, Nauticus Robotics reported $0.5 million in revenue for its first financial quarter - down significantly from $2.8 million a year ago and $1.1 million in the prior quarter. 

Still, the Nasdaq-listed firm earned a cent per share in Q1 versus $14.1 million of net loss a year ago and $39.5 million loss in Q4. John W. Gibson, the chief executive of Nauticus Robotics said in a press release at the time:

Nauticus Robotics stock ($KITT) is not a very widely covered name among the Wall Street analysts.