Investors have been in a better mood this week, and the action on Wall Street Tuesday morning confirmed a sense of renewed optimism about the global economy and the stock market. As of 8:30 a.m. ET, futures on the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +0.35%) were up 285 points to 16,127, seeking to play catch-up after lagging larger gains from other major market benchmarks in Monday's rally.
Helping to bolster the Nasdaq's fortunes early Tuesday was a big rise in some of the largest tech stocks in the market, led this time by Intel (INTC +1.07%). Yet some investors are looking more closely at a bounce in an electric vehicle (EV)-related stock that has seen a lot of volatility over the past month. Below, we'll see why Intel's making a big move, as well as reveal the name of this EV stock and what's ahead in its future.
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Intel gives investors what they want
Shares of Intel were up almost 8% in premarket trading on Tuesday morning. The semiconductor company got a boost not from its core business but from a strategic decision to try to get the market to value one of its subsidiaries more fully.
Intel announced that it would spin off its Mobileye business, with the intent of doing an initial public offering of the unit sometime in 2022. Mobileye is Intel's entry into the autonomous vehicle space, and according to Intel, it has been generating some impressive performance in its early stages. Specifically, Mobileye has shipped more than 100 million units of its system-on-chip product EyeQ, and it has unveiled a robotaxi that it hopes to use as it scales up its testing globally in cities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
To be clear, Intel will remain financially interested in Mobileye. The chipmaker will keep a majority stake in the autonomous vehicle specialist, and the two companies will keep working together to find synergies in which their development of innovative technology can help each other. Mobileye will keep its leadership and executive team in place as well.
Intel acquired Mobileye four years ago, but the chipmaker has never gotten the kind of valuations seen from smaller companies making similar moves in electric and autonomous vehicle technology. Investors like the idea of letting people own shares of Mobileye directly, and that could prove to be a big windfall for Intel as well.
Go time for this EV stock
Elsewhere in the industry, though, shares of EVgo (EVGO 3.00%) were also moving higher, with gains of about 7% in premarket trading Tuesday. The fast-charging system provider got a valuable contract win that many see as potentially pointing toward bigger and brighter things for the company.
EVgo announced Tuesday morning that it had won grants from the California Air Resources Board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Under the terms of the five proposed grants for which EVgo received support, EVgo will add five fast-charging locations with a total of 38 charging stalls. One of those facilities will be in Los Angeles, with 18 charging stalls making room for retail drivers and vehicle fleets to facilitate faster conversion toward EV use. With EVgo's technology, the new sites should help most EVs charge up within 15 to 45 minutes.
With the award, EVgo will add to its more than 330 sites and 820 charging stalls across California. The company boasts strong penetration within its home market, stating that more than 80% of California's population lives within 10 miles of a current EVgo site.
EVgo has participated in a wave of interest among EV charging stocks, but its share price has been volatile, nearly doubling in early November but giving back all of those gains since. There's no doubt that building out a charging infrastructure will be an essential element of electric vehicle adoption, but investors still seem unclear whether EVgo or other companies will end up being the big winners from the trend.
