LA Electric Automakers Like Rivian, Fisker Get Pummeled Amid Stock Market Selloff
Harri is dot.LA's senior finance reporter. She previously worked for Gizmodo, Fast Company, VentureBeat and Flipboard. Find her on Twitter and send tips on L.A. startups and venture capital to harrison@dot.la.
With the stock market in the midst of a major correction, some of the companies that have made Southern California a hotbed of electric vehicle manufacturing have taken a hit on Wall Street.
The likes of Rivian, Fisker, Faraday Future and Xos have all seen their shares decline sharply from their highs of last year. After its splashy IPO last fall saw Rivian briefly become the world’s third-most valuable automaker, the Irvine-based electric truck manufacturer’s stock dipped below $60 per share for the first time today. Rivian shares closed Monday’s trading just shy of $64, and have now fallen nearly 63% from their November closing high of over $172.
Other EV makers who call Los Angeles home are also having a tough time on the market. Manhattan Beach-based Fisker’s stock closed Monday’s trading at under $12 per share, down 50% from nearly $24 per share in November; Gardena-based Faraday Future ended the day at under $5 per share, down nearly 73% since it broke $16 per share in June; and Atwater Village-based Xos closed just above $2 per share, down more than 71% since its August IPO.
Similarly, Canoo—which announced in November that it would relocate its headquarters from L.A. to Arkansas—has seen its shares slip more than 56% from their November high, while Phoenix-based Nikola, which has been beleaguered by securities fraud charges, has lost nearly 52% of its value since the fall.
Tesla’s stock, meanwhile, has fared somewhat better—only losing about 24% since its all-time high of more than $1,200 per share in November. The Elon Musk-led automaker continues to lead the field among EV firms and is expected to post a fourth-quarter profit north of $2 billion later this week.
Of course, these declines coincide with a broader, market-wide selloff that has seen the S&P 500 lose more than 7% of its value since the start of this year. But tech companies have borne the brunt of the correction—the Nasdaq Composite is down more than 11% on the year—while emerging EV companies, in particular, have been hit by chip shortages and scrutinized for a dearth of profits.
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Harri is dot.LA's senior finance reporter. She previously worked for Gizmodo, Fast Company, VentureBeat and Flipboard. Find her on Twitter and send tips on L.A. startups and venture capital to harrison@dot.la.
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