What happened
Shares of Switchback Energy Acquisition (SBE) jumped an incredible 154% in November, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, and haven't stopped there. In the first week of December, shares are up another 8.2%.
So what
Switchback -- a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with a strategic focus on the energy sector -- continues to move toward its merger with ChargePoint, a privately held leader in electric vehicle charging stations. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, bringing this new opportunity to invest in EV infrastructure to market.
Image source: Getty Images.
There haven't been any major developments in this merger or in EVs in general, but investors have been pushing EV-related stocks sharply higher. That industry move is a big reason shares were higher in November.
Now what
Mergers like the one with ChargePoint have been cheered by investors this year as a way to bring growth stocks to market without a traditional IPO. And in a hot industry like electric vehicles, shares can jump sharply just on excitement for the company to become publicly traded. Right now, investors are speculating that ChargePoint will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the growth in EVs around the world, but it'll likely take years to reach that potential. And huge winning months like this may reverse if the company misses earnings expectations in 2021.
