Blink Charging (BLNK 10.11%), the young company riding the current wave of popularity with electric vehicle companies, said Monday its stock will become a component of the Russell 2000 index. The company, citing the index's latest list of additions, said it will join it after market open on Monday, June 28.
The Russell 2000 is the most popular index of small-cap stocks on the market, so fresh inclusion on it instantly raises a company's profile. It also makes it a target for the numerous index funds that concentrate on the Russell 2000 or trawl for small-cap companies on various indexes more generally.
Blink Charging is well aware of this, and therefore happy about its inclusion. "We look forward to the expected increased exposure to investors and heightened visibility of our stock that our inclusion in the Russell 2000 Index will bring to Blink Charging," the company quoted CEO Michael Farkas as saying.
It also didn't hesitate to cite a statistic indicating that Russell's indexes serve as benchmarks for around $10.6 trillion in assets.
While Blink Charging has notched a series of wins this year -- such as the deal it struck with General Motors back in April -- it habitually lands in the red. The stock is also burdened with sky-high valuations, not the least of which is a trailing-12-month price/sales ratio of over 185.
Regardless, investors cheered the company's graduation to the Russell 2000. On Monday, the stock closed nearly 4% higher, trouncing the S&P 500's 0.2% gain.