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Lordstown will begin production of its Endurance electric truck later this year.
Matthew Hatcher / Bloomberg
Electric truck start
Lordstown Engines
has a new CEO. Investors reacted with relief.
The company appointed Daniel Ninivaggi as the new CEO Thursday morning, effective immediately. Lordstown shares (ticker: RIDE) are up 25% to $ 6.88 early in trading. The
S&P 500
is down 0.1%. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
is up 0.2%.
Ninivaggi succeeds board chair Angela Strand, who led the company after Steve Burns left in June. Burns left shortly after the company received a “going concern” warning from its auditor. This warning essentially means that the business might not have the capital to continue operating without significant change.
The company is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice regarding the processing of its SPAC merger and the registration of vehicle pre-orders. Vehicle pre-orders were an issue raised in a negative research report by a short seller in March.
Lordstown stock hit a 52-week low on August 19. Shares have rebounded and, including Thursday’s gains, are up about 44% from a nadir of $ 4.77 per share. Still, stocks are down about 80% from their 52-week high of nearly $ 32.
Ninivaggi is the former CEO of
Icahn companies
(IEP) and has held “a variety of managerial positions in the automotive and transportation industries,” according to the company. Previous automotive jobs include stints with parts suppliers
Léar
(LEA) and Federal-Mogul. He also sits on the board of directors of
Garrett Motion
(GTX), the turbocharger activity was born from
Honeywell International
(SHE).
“I believe that the demand for full-size electric pickup trucks will be strong and that the Endurance truck… has the opportunity to capture a significant share of the market,” said Ninivaggi. Lordstown’s first product, Endurance, is expected to go into production in the coming months. “I look forward to working with the talented management team at Lordstown, our suppliers and other partners to bring Endurance to market and maximize the value of our assets. ”
Ninivaggi will have a tough job. Wall Street soured on Lordstown’s shares. Only one in eight analysts, or 13%, notes Buy shares. The average purchase ratio of small cap stocks is around 60%. What’s more, 50% of the Sell rate shares. The average price target for listed analysts to sell is around $ 1.55 per share.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
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