What happened
Shares of electric-vehicle (EV) charger company Blink Charging (BLNK 4.76%) jumped an incredible 2,198% in 2020, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, as the market went wild on EV charging infrastructure.
So what
Sometimes a stock becomes a market favorite and there's no stopping it. That's what happened to Blink Charging in 2020. Its popularity could actually create a viable path toward it becoming a long-term growth stock.
Image source: Getty Images.
Blink Charging's revenue was certainly up last year, nearly doubling from a year ago. But the company isn't performing anywhere near where you would expect from a company with a $1.6 billion market cap.
BLNK Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts
But a high stock price may be exactly what will help the company live up to expectations. Blink Charging can use its stock to make acquisitions and/or sell shares to have cash to fund growth. That gives the company a lot of flexibility to execute its growth strategy long term simply because it has a high stock valuation.
Now what
It's hard to justify Blink Charging's value on a fundamental basis, but sometimes the market gets a hold of a growth stock and continues pushing it higher. That seems to be what happened to Blink Charging in 2020 as the company went from a market unknown to a market favorite.
This year, the rubber hits the road as the company needs to increase its charging network and hope that EV manufacturers get more vehicles on the road. I'm not sure whether those two things will continue to push the stock higher, given the crazy price-to-sales multiple you see above, but that's what I'll be watching in 2021.
