What happened
Shares of Nikola (NKLA +0.00%) continued to move higher today after a 10% bounce on Thursday. Shares jumped 6% on Friday before settling back to a gain of 2.2% as of 10:30 a.m. EST.
So what
The stock is getting a tailwind from the general belief that the Biden administration will support green energy, which could aid the buildout of the battery-charging and hydrogen-fueling infrastructure that Nikola's trucks will need.
Nikola's Arizona factory is under construction, and the company announced a utility agreement yesterday, signaling progress on the project. Today, a J.P. Morgan analyst commented that Nikola is in fact commissioning several of its Tre battery-electric semi trucks in Arizona.
Nikola Tre truck. Image source: Nikola.
Analyst Paul Coster wrote that there are three Tre trucks on site at various stages of commissioning, adding, "At least one of the trucks is already mobile, but optimal performance requires software-based integration of approximately 20 subsystems, which is an iterative process."
Coster said that the company seems to be happy with the performance so far, and another delivery of nine trucks is due next month.
Now what
Last month, a report by Coster gave the stock a boost when he struck a more positive tone on how news from the company will improve in 2021. He assigned the stock a price target of $35 per share by the end of the year.
After a tumultuous 2020, that would be good news for Nikola and its investors. But the company still has to show solid evidence that its products will perform as expected.
