The shares of two electric vehicle manufacturers have been experiencing rough roads as of late.

Fisker Inc., which is based in Manhattan Beach, closed at 73 cents on Feb. 29, then fell to 48 cents on March 1. The company had released its preliminary fourth-quarter and full year earnings after the market closed on Feb. 29. 

Meanwhile, Gardena-based Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. experienced a 10% drop in its share price on March 1 after it filed a recall notice with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The companies’ shares have not since recovered. 

In its preliminary earnings release Fisker reported a net loss of -$762 million (-$2.22 a share) for the full year ending Dec. 31, compared with a net loss of -$547 million (-$1.80) in the previous year. 

Revenue increased by 80,000% from the prior year to $273 million. 

For the fourth quarter, Fisker reported a net loss of $464 million (-$1.23 a share) on revenue of $200 million, or an increase of 178% from the previous quarter of $72 million in revenue.

Its shares closed at 15 cents on March 14.

In February, Fisker received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange that it was out of compliance with the exchange’s rules because the average closing price of the company’s common stock was less than $1 per share over a consecutive 30 trading-day period.

The company can regain compliance at any time within a six-month cure period following its receipt of the NYSE notice.

The preliminary report also included comments from Henrik Fisker, the chief executive of the company. 

Fisker said that the just-completed year was a challenging one for the company as it had supply chain and other issues to deal with that resulted in it not producing and delivering the number of Ocean SUVs it had originally projected. 

“We also encountered unexpected headwinds in our efforts to establish a direct-to-consumer sales model in both North America and Europe at the-same time,” Fisker said, adding that the company switched to a dealer partner sales model at the end of last year. 

Geeta Gupta-Fisker, the company’s chief financial officer and Henrik Fisker’s wife, said during a Feb. 29 conference call with analysts that there were concerns over Fisker being able to continue in business. 

“Furthermore, to the extent our current resources are insufficient to satisfy our financial requirements over the next 12 months, we may need to seek additional equity or debt financing, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in these efforts,” she added. 

The company is in the process of cutting about 200 employees, or 15% of its workforce.

“Headcount reductions are predominantly related to change in sales strategy from direct to consumer and to a dealer-partner model,” Gupta-Fisker said. 

“In addition, we are streamlining operations, including reducing our physical footprint and overall expenses,” she said. 

The Ocean is made in Graz, Austria, by Magna Steyr, a contract manufacturer. 

Faraday recalls the FF 91

The Faraday recall applies to the 11 FF 91 electric vehicles produced between March and December of last year. The notice said that a “software issue exists in these vehicles which would cause the airbag malfunction indicator telltale light to not illuminate in the case of an airbag control unit communications fault.”

A driver would not be warned of an airbag control unit loss of communication fault which might indicate a problem with airbag deployment, the notice said, adding, “If airbags do not deploy appropriately in a crash, there is an increased risk of injury to occupants in that crash.”

On Feb. 25, the company released a letter from Global Chief Executive Matthias Aydt updating shareholders on his plans to grow Faraday in the new year. 

The company also announced on the same day a 1-to-3 reverse stock split effective on March 1. 

The day after the announcement were made, which was on a Sunday, Faraday’s stock slipped by 11.5% from a closing price of 26 cents on Feb. 23 to 23 cents on Feb. 26. Its share price closed at 11 cents on March 14.

In his letter, Aydt said that Faraday had made great strides in the past year, including entering the revenue generation phase, all while doing it under limited funding and a changing landscape in the electric vehicle business. 

There were significant changes made in Faraday’s business foundation, including the addition of a new management team that he believed brings the strongest capabilities in the history of the company, Aydt wrote.