Fisker stock falls after quarterly loss widens Earnings Results

By Claudia Assis

Fisker Inc. stock fell late Monday after the electric-car startup reported a larger quarterly loss and forecast a rise in expenses.

Fisker /zigman2/quotes/209924856/composite FSR +2.68% said it lost $176.8 million, or 63 cents a share, in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $1.13 million, or one penny a share, in the first quarter of 2020.

Adjusted for one-time items, Fisker lost $31.6 million, or 11 cents a share.

Shares fell 2.5% in after-hours trading.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected Fisker to report an adjusted loss of 17 cents a share. Fisker went public in October through a blank-check-company merger.

The startup said it had more than 16,000 reservations for its vehicles as of Monday.

“Confidence in our business model grows by the day,” Chief Executive Henrik Fisker said in a statement.

Fisker guided for operating expenses between $240 million and $270 million, mostly on higher R&D expenses, up from a previous guidance of expenses between $210 million and $240 million. It said it ended the quarter with cash and equivalents of $985.4 million, and zero debt.

In a separate press release Monday, Fisker said it has entered an agreement with Japan’s Sharp Corp. /zigman2/quotes/203224600/delayed JP:6753 -1.69% to develop technologies for “next-generation” in-vehicle screens and interfaces.

Fisker in February unveiled a deal with electronics-manufacturing heavyweight Foxconn Technology Group /zigman2/quotes/204111604/delayed TW:2354 +0.54% , a move viewed as a step toward diversifying the electric-vehicle maker’s production from Magna International Inc. /zigman2/quotes/204433886/composite MGA +2.98% and highlighting Fisker’s strategy of becoming the “Apple of autos.”

In the statement Monday, Fisker called its partnerships with Magna and Foxconn “undervalued.” That strategy “began as a way to de-risk production cost, timing, and quality, enabling Fisker to focus efforts on customer-facing areas,” it said. Adding Foxconn as another supplier created “a major supply-chain advantage as well,” it said.

“We are already seeing evidence of better access and pricing for high-value technology shared across programs (e.g., battery, high-performance chips, displays, etc.),” Fisker said.

Fisker shares are up about 9.7% over the past 12 months, but have lost 23% so far this year. That compares with gains of 45% and 10% for the S&P 500 index /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +1.44% in the past 12 months and year to date, respectively.

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