Despite narrowing its net loss and increasing its revenue by more than 8,000%, Fisker Inc. shares still fell following the release of the company’s second-quarter earnings.
The Manhattan Beach-based EV manufacturer saw its share price drop by nearly 8% to close at $5.85 on Aug. 4, the day after the release of the earnings report. Shares closed the previous day at $6.35.
The company reported a net loss of $85.5 million (-25 cents a share) for the quarter ending June 30, compared with a net loss of $106 million (-36 cents) in the same period of the previous year. Revenue increased by 8,150% from the second quarter of the prior year to $825,000.
Analysts on average expected per-share earnings of -28 cents on revenue of $159 million. Fisker beat on earnings but missed on revenue.
The stock closed at $5.71 on Aug. 10.
Henrik Fisker, the founder and chief executive of the company, said it reached an important milestone during the second quarter as it began deliveries of the all-electric Ocean SUV to customers in Europe and the United States.
“We are currently in a quarter that truly marks the inflection for Fisker – our business model has now been proven, by the fact that we are already making a positive profit margin on the first vehicles we are selling,” Fisker said.
In an Aug. 4 conference call with analysts to discuss second-quarter financials, Fisker said it was exciting to get the Ocean in the hands of its customers over the past few months, and that the company looked forward to expanding deliveries across its launch markets.
“The Fisker team and all our partners are working around the clock to bring the best-in-class Oceans to our customers as fast as we can,” Fisker said.
Pavel Molchanov, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates Inc., noted in a research report released on Aug. 4 that the company’s guidance on how many Oceans would be made this year decreased by one-third to between 20,000 and 23,000 vehicles.
“The trajectory is very back-end weighted, bearing in mind a particular supplier issue as well as a summer shutdown at the production facility in Austria,” Molchanov wrote. “Still, top line is set to become meaningful in 3Q, which is one quarter later than we had thought in May. We forecast deliveries of 12,000 in 2023, followed by 43,500 in 2024.”
Fisker’s supplier issues were addressed by Geeta Gupta-Fisker, the company’s chief financial officer. She said during the conference call that while as a whole Fisker has seen some supply chain disruptions easing, there are certain suppliers and sub-suppliers who requested a bit more time to ramp up to meet the carmaker’s high-volume targets.
“These are not unusual during launch and ramp-up phases,” said Gupta-Fisker, who also serves as chief operating officer. “But these don’t relate to any supply chain issues we expect to see over a long duration of time.”
The day before releasing its second-quarter earnings, Fisker held its inaugural “Product Vision Day” in Huntington Beach, where it showcased its future product lineup to an audience of investors, analysts, employees and the media.
The vehicles featured included the Pear, a small electric car; the Alaska, an all-electric pickup truck; and the 1,000-horsepower Ronin grand-touring four-door convertible.
The Pear is available in four trim levels, with prices starting at $29,900, and is scheduled to launch in mid-2025. The Alaska is priced starting at $45,400 before incentives, with deliveries expected in 2025.
