Green energy stocks were swept in a green tidal wave in the week ending Oct. 8 amid a host of positive catalysts. The primary drivers were the broader market reversal, strong third-quarter deliveries reported by Tesla, Inc. TSLA and positive sentiment toward Chinese EV stocks.
Tesla Front & Center With Annual Shareholder Meeting: Tesla's annual shareholder meeting held Thursday from its Giga Austin had several newsworthy updates. Including the news that the company is shifting its base from Palo Alto, California to Texas.
Wedbush analyst lauded the move as a master stroke. (find out why?) That said, the ambitious annual deliveries target of 30 million EVs by 2030 was panned as being "overly ambitious" by Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill.
Meanwhile, the company announced many incremental updates on its production programs, shareholder return policy, among other things.
Nio Gets a Bullish Upgrade: After an ordinary August, Nio, Inc. NIO came back up stronger in September to churn in record monthly and quarterly deliveries. The numbers, surprisingly, did not elicit due reaction and the stock was continuing to languish.
Redemption for the stock came this week following positive developments in China-U.S. relations and also a bullish upgrade of Nio's stock.
Goldman Sachs analyst Fei Feng upgraded Nio stock from Neutral to Buy and maintained the price target at $56.
"Nio provides the visibility of strong volume expansion in the next 6 months, driven by the upcoming ET7 (China's priciest car model launched by a domestic brand), the Nio Day 2021 in Suzhou, the accelerating BAAS build-out, and the entrance into Norway," the analyst said in the note.
Related Link: How Tesla Is Responding To $137M Jury Verdict For Racism In Workplace
Plug Power Lights Up With Asia JV, Analyst Actions: Plug Power, Inc. PLUG has been stitching up partnerships with companies to expand its operations overseas.
This week, the company announced a joint venture with SK E&S, part of the South Korean conglomerate SK Group, to accelerate the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy source in the Asian markets.
The joint venture plans to build a Gigafactory in a key metropolitan area in South Korea by 2024, with mass capacity for hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzer systems, and plans to supply domestic and certain overseas markets in Asia.
The company also received a shot in the arm from a couple of positive analyst actions.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Ameet Thakkar initiated coverage of Plug Power shares with a Market Perform rating and a $30 price target. Barclays analyst Moses Sutton upgrading shares from Underweight to Equal Weight and maintained the price target at $27.
Plug Power's Annual Symposium could reasonably reignite some momentum and drive the stock toward a new baseline for the next 6-12 months, or at least set a high-$20s floor, Sutton said.
GM's Big EV Thrust: In a 2-day analyst event, General Motors Company GM laid out its broader long-term strategy, with a specific focus on electrification.
The legacy automaker is aiming for annual revenue of $280 billion by 2030, helped by its transition to EV manufacturing and tapping into non-vehicle revenue avenues such as software and data. GM officials said the automaker is planning to evolve into a "platform company."
Faraday Future Comes - a Scam? California-based intelligent mobility company Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. FFIE was the subject of a scathing report released by short seller J Capital this week.
The company, which went public through a SPAC deal, won't ever sell a car, and so far, it's nothing but a bucket to collect money from U.S. investors and pour it into the black hole of debt created by its founder, China's best-known securities fraudster, Jia Yueting, the firm said.
Also In The News: Among the other headlines of the week were the $137 million in damages Tesla was ordered to pay for an alleged racial slur at a workplace, and Chinese EV startup Li Auto, Inc. LI planning to work around the chip shortage issue by delivering cars without two radars and then add them back when supply constraints ease.
Lordstown Motors Corp. RIDE's shares were downgraded by Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas from Equal-weight to Underweight and the price target was reduced from $8 to $2. The bearishness was premised on worries over financing, in the eventuality of the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. HNHPF deal falling through.
Related Link: Plug Power Forms JV With SK Group To Accelerate Hydrogen Energy Use In Asia: What You Need To Know
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