Lordstown Motors Stock Rallies for Second Day

LORDSTOWN, Ohio – Shares of Lordstown Motors Corp. rallied for the second consecutive day as the electric-vehicle startup’s stock value posted gains of more than 20% Tuesday.

Shares of Lordstown Motors, listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol RIDE, closed at $10.09 per share, up 20.1% from Monday’s close of $8.40 per share, according to market reports.

On Monday, the company announced it would host “Lordstown Motors Week” next month, inviting analysts, customers, media and shareholders to observe firsthand the progress being made at its plant.

Lordstown Motors is in the process of retooling the former General Motors assembly complex to launch the Endurance, billed as the world’s first all-electric commercial pickup, in late September.

The five-day event will include test drives of the Endurance, meetings with Lordstown Motors executives and tours of the 6.2 million-square-foot-plant. The event is scheduled for June 21 through June 25.

Wall Street responded favorably to the announcement Monday, and the share price of Lordstown Motors shot up more than 14%.

It’s a welcome reversal for the EV startup’s stock value over the past several months. The company witnessed its share price plummet on the heels of a damaging short-seller report issued in March, the disclosure of an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into the company, and skepticism from industry analysts.

Share prices of Lordstown Motors last week hit a 52-week low of $6.69 per share.

Lordstown Motors merged with DiamondPeak Holdings Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, on Oct. 23. DiamondPeak, also known as a SPAC, took Lordstown public on Oct. 26.

The company also announced in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it would not be able to submit its quarterly financial report for the period ending March 31, 2021 until it finalizes its restated financials for 2020. Last week, Lordstown Motors said it would restate its earnings report for 2020 after the SEC issued new guidelines as to how SPACs report stock warrants. Under the new directives, certain warrants issued at the time of the merger should be considered liabilities and not equity.

Lordstown said it would restate its 2020 report to comply with the new guidelines.

“The company is working diligently to complete the necessary work in connection with the restatement,” Lordstown Motors said in its filing Tuesday. “The company’s financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2021 cannot be finalized until the restated 2020 financial statements are completed,” the company said.

Initially, Lordstown Motors was to file its quarterly report May 17. However, late last week the company said it would delay releasing those figures until after the markets close May 24 followed by a conference call with analysts. It was not clear as to whether the 2020 financial restatement and the quarterly report would be finished by then.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.