What happened
Shares of several special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) that are set to merge with electric-vehicle start-ups closed higher on Thursday, as investors continued to snap up shares of everything EV-related following last year's spectacular run by category leader Tesla (TSLA 1.85%).
Here's where shares of these three SPACs closed on Thursday, relative to their closing prices on Wednesday:
- Churchill Capital IV (CCIV.U) was up 3.6%.
- CIIG Merger (CIIC) was up 10.2%.
- Northern Genesis Acquisition (NGA) was up 11.5%.
So what
Churchill Capital IV has had a wild run since Bloomberg reported on Monday that it may be close to a merger deal with electric luxury-vehicle start-up Lucid Motors.
Unlike some of the EV start-ups that have come to the public markets in the last year, Lucid is at a fairly advanced stage: It has a nearly completed factory in Arizona and it expects to begin shipping its impressive Air luxury sedan this spring.
Lucid's Air was designed by a team led by the chief engineer of Tesla's groundbreaking Model S. It will go on sale this spring at a starting price around $80,000. Image source: Lucid Motors.
Because Lucid is a serious and well-funded Tesla rival, it has been on the radar of auto investors for a while. It's not hard to figure out why investors are excited, but some caution is warranted. Take note: Churchill Capital IV's stock was briefly up over 20% in early trading on Thursday, but fell back to earth after a CNBC commentator reminded viewers that the merger isn't yet a done deal.
As for CIIG Merger, which has agreed to merge with British electric van and bus maker Arrival, it picked up its first Wall Street recommendation on Thursday. Wolfe Research analyst Scott Group initiated coverage of CIIG with an outperform rating and a price target of $50 by year-end.
Now what
Group said that he believes Arrival could be "one of the best positioned long-term electrification plays" given the likely demand in its target markets, its competitive pricing versus existing internal-combustion alternatives, and the cost advantages it could realize from its innovative manufacturing approach, which is centered on small "microfactories" that can be built (and added) quickly and inexpensively.
Last but not least, Northern Genesis Acquisition is still running on momentum from last week's revelation that its merger target, Canadian electric-truck maker Lion Electric, has a deal in place that gives online giant Amazon (AMZN 1.30%) the right to buy hundreds of trucks over the next several years -- and to take a stake in Lion as well.
