What happened
Shares of Arcimoto (FUV -1.74%) soared 721.7% last year, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The electric-vehicle (EV) stock skyrocketed thanks to the company's dramatic sales gains and incredible momentum for the overall industry.
2020 was a huge year for EV stocks, with large companies including Tesla and NIO posting incredible stock gains across the stretch. Some smaller players in the space also posted stellar share price gains, and Arcimoto closed out last year as one of the stock market's biggest winners.
Image source: Arcimoto.
So what
Arcimoto's stock gains in 2020 look even more impressive in the context of the company diluting the stock through new share offerings. The company's outstanding share count climbed roughly 39% last year, and its market capitalization soared approximately 1,810%.
Ramping momentum for the business prompted a string of analyst upgrades and dramatic jumps for the company's share price. The biggest surge for the EV stock arrived in November after the company published third-quarter results that crushed the market's expectations. Sales for the period hit $683,895, up roughly 1,953% year over year.
The company's Q3 loss in the period expanded from $4 million in 2019 to $4.6 million in last year's quarter, but the increase was trivial in the context of the massive revenue ramp up, and the company closed out the quarter with $17 million in cash and short-term equivalents (up from $5.8 million in the prior-year period) thanks to proceeds from the new share offerings.
Now what
Arcimoto stock has continued to post strong gains early in January's trading. The company's share price is up roughly 18% in the month so far.
The EV market looks poised for big growth over the long term, and Arcimoto is still small enough that it could continue to deliver stellar stock gains if the company manages to continue scaling its business. However, investors should also keep in mind that publicly traded EV companies have seen incredible stock gains that raise concerns about whether valuations have become unreasonably stretched.
Arcimoto has a market capitalization of roughly $532 million and is valued at approximately 24 times this year's expected sales.
