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Lordstown chose Endurance for the name of his all-electric pickup.
Courtesy at the time of the Lord
Lordstown Motors
released the fourth quarter figures on Wednesday night. The earnings don’t matter much, as the electric truck manufacturer still doesn’t sell anything. But spending does – and that’s what investors are paying attention to, especially after a few tough days for stocks.
Lordstown (ticker: RIDE) expects to spend about $ 250 million to $ 275 million this year on capital goods, leaving the factory he bought from General Motors (GM) ready to produce his all-electric pickup called Endurance. The company also expects to spend an additional $ 220 million or more in expenses. That would leave Lordstown with about $ 200 million by the end of 2021.
Spending looks higher than Wall Street expected, based on aggregate projections by Bloomberg. Higher than expected cash outflows are likely to put pressure on stocks on Thursday. The shares fell about 3.8% in the trades after the closing of the exchange.
Still, it is difficult to say exactly what will happen to the stock price. The stock has fallen about 15% since Friday, when a short seller published a negative research report on Lordstown. Hindenburg Research claimed that the company’s order book is not as solid as investors believe. Lordstown reports more than 100,000 orders for his electric truck.
The company issued a brief statement on Monday, saying only that management knew about the report and would respond in due time. Lordstown also said, and repeated in its earnings report on Wednesday, that it is on track to start producing Endurance in September.
Management spoke a little more about the seller’s short report on the earnings conference call. “We also received a request for information from the SEC and we are cooperating with this investigation,” said CEO Steve Burns. “In addition, the Board of Directors has formed a special committee to review these matters.”
Investors will have to wait to get more clarity on the issues raised in the negative report. Until then, they will follow the Endurance development schedule.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]