This newcomer in autonomous vehicles has just gone public

Millions of people love cars, and investors have loved buying auto stocks for decades. With the technological revolution in the automotive industry, there have been many recent innovations including electric vehicles, autonomous driving software, in-car entertainment, and countless other features that drivers now take for granted. The companies that bring these innovations to life have caught the attention of investors and young new companies have gone public to take advantage of strong demand.

Today, another small upstart started operations after merging with a special purpose acquisition company. Luminar Technologies (Nasdaq: LAZR) has a lot of promise and joins a crowded industry with many players vying for attention.

How the stock market performed on Thursday

Shares closed mixed on Thursday, as gains earlier today largely evaporated. the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJ INDICES: ^ DJI) was the biggest percentage winner, but the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^ GSPC) fell very slightly from its record on Wednesday. the Nasdaq composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^ IXIC) set a new record even though his gain was well below what he was at his best levels of the day.

Data Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Another SPAC makes its entry into the big leagues

Luminar Technologies is not a name most equity investors are familiar with because until today, the private company’s shares were not technically available to investors. However, for a few months now, investors in PSPC Gores Métropoulous (NASDAQ: GMHI) knew that the shell company in which they owned was planning to merge with Luminar in early December. Sure enough, Luminar and Gores got the nod to go ahead with their merger this week, prompting the name and stock symbol change.

Luminar is a pioneer in laser lidar technology that some stand-alone systems use to obtain information about traffic and obstacles. In May, the company struck a deal with Swedish Volvo to add lidar and other sensor technologies to vehicles, starting in 2022. At the time, Volvo announced plans to use Luminar’s technology as gateway to the inclusion of autonomous vehicles for highway driving. This collaboration has given Luminar partnerships with seven of the world’s 10 largest automakers.

In August, Luminar announced that it would go public through a merger with Gores Metropoulos. The deal put a market cap of $ 3.4 billion on Luminar; he also put founder Austin Russell in line to become a billionaire. It took a few months for the companies to get the required shareholder approvals.

A late jump

Interestingly, PSPC shares remained fairly subdued after the announcement, rising up to 35% from their price of $ 10 per share, but then falling back to that level until mid-November. . It was only after Luminar secured another deal with Mobileye subsidiary of Intel on November 20 as the stock began its last move.

On its first day of trading under its own name, Luminar’s stock climbed 28%. This has helped some PSPC shareholders double their money in just a matter of weeks, but it is also a testament to the popularity of companies introducing new technology to the auto industry.

PSPCs have been very successful in finding private companies that are attractive to investors. The success of Luminar and Gores Metropoulos ensures that more PSPC will come to market seeking to replicate its winning methods.