What happened
Shares of electric semitruck maker Nikola (NKLA +0.00%) were sharply higher on Thursday morning. Traders appeared to be reacting to a tweet from the company late Wednesday in which it noted that it had made its first customer delivery.
As of 10:30 a.m. ET, Nikola's shares were up about 12.6% from Wednesday's closing price.
So what
Nikola's shares began their surge in after-hours trading on Wednesday evening after this tweet from the company's official Twitter account:
Our first customer delivery done, and more to come. #NikolaTreDelivery pic.twitter.com/Gp6qMo7UUc
— Nikola Motor Company (@nikolamotor) December 22, 2021
Electric vehicle investors know that any start-up vehicle maker's first delivery is a big deal. This was certainly no different. That Nikola was delivering actual trucks to an actual customer was huge news, a strong indication that the company has moved past its now-departed founder and the allegations that he misrepresented the company's technology to investors.
It's genuinely bullish news, and the stock is rightly moving higher.
But here's the thing: As regular Motley Fool readers know, this delivery of four Nikola Tre electric semitrucks wasn't news when the company tweeted about it last night. As is easy to see from Nikola's Twitter account, the delivery happened last Friday:
It's official! Handing over the keys to Total Transportation Services Inc., marking our first customer delivery. Read all about it here: https://t.co/oWpMbbjgX3 #NikolaTreDelivery
— Nikola Motor Company (@nikolamotor) December 17, 2021
So why is the stock only reacting today? Because it's a holiday week, because there has been a lot of other news in the EV space, and because meme stocks -- a category that included Nikola last year and might yet include it again -- are strange things.
One of the four Nikola Tre electric semis delivered to Total Transportation Services in California last Friday. Image source: Nikola.
Now what
Nikola did have some actual news to announce yesterday, though it didn't do much for the stock when it was released. Privately held Heniff Transportation Systems, a trucking company that specializes in moving liquid cargos, has agreed to acquire 10 battery-electric Nikola Tre semis, with the option, after a test period, to acquire 90 more.
Heniff will acquire the trucks via a Nikola dealer, Thompson Truck Centers. Thompson will provide maintenance and recharging infrastructure to support the Nikolas in Heniff's fleet. Those first 10 trucks will be delivered in the first half of 2022, the companies said.
It's not a huge order. But it's one more thing that shows that -- bit by bit -- CEO Mark Russell and his team have moved Nikola past last year's drama and put the company on course to deliver on its original business plan. It might be time for investors to give this company another look.
