What happened
While it had moved moderately higher since the start of the new year, shares of Nikola (NKLA -2.67%) are driving lower, resulting in the stock landing in the red so far for 2023. The EV truck manufacturer reported fourth-quarter 2022 earnings today, and investors clearly aren't charged up about the results.
As of 11:40 a.m. ET, shares of Nikola are down 7.7%.
So what
Failing to meet top-line estimates, Nikola reported revenue of $6.6 million, considerably lower than the $32.3 consensus among analysts. While Nikola beat bottom-line estimates and reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.36 (analysts expected the company to report a $0.43 loss per share), it wasn't enough to overshadow the shortcoming in sales.
Nikola's inability to meet its own expectations is another reason investors are clicking the sell button. At the beginning of 2022, Nikola forecast revenue of $90 million to $150 million. Instead, Nikola booked sales of $50.8 million in 2022. Management predicated this guidance, in part, on the belief that the company would deliver 300 to 500 of its Tre BEV battery electric vehicles to dealers in 2022. But this represented yet another miss; Nikola delivered only 131 vehicles in 2022.
Changing perspective from the rearview mirror to the road ahead, management forecasts deliveries of 250 to 350 for the Tre BEV. Furthermore, deliveries -- 125 to 150 -- of the fuel cell version (FCEV) of the Tre are expected to begin in 2023. These projections provide the foundation for management's 2023 revenue guidance: $140 million to $200 million.
Now what
Evidently, it was a bumpy road that Nikola traveled in 2022. While management forecasts increases in Tre BEV deliveries and the commencement of Tre FCEV deliveries, investors are rightly skeptical. Those who are pondering whether to park this EV stock in their portfolio may want to see how the company performs in the first couple of quarters of 2023 to see if the company remains on track.
