What happened
Shares of Canoo (GOEV 2.59%) were rising like a rocket Friday morning, and investors might have NASA to thank for it. The stock soared as much as 30% and was still higher by 23.1% as of 10:53 a.m. ET today.
So what
The sharp move comes after the company announced it has delivered three new Crew Transportation Vehicles (CTVs) to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. That positive news from Wednesday could also be prompting investors selling the stock short to be covering positions, leading to a short squeeze. Nearly 12% of Canoo's stock float was sold short as of the end of June, according to MarketWatch.
Now what
Canoo has previously announced orders from retailers to use its vehicles for online order delivery. It also has orders for more than 12,000 vehicles from a van-rental provider and a national fleet-leasing company.
The NASA order consists of three vans that will be used to transport the astronauts on the nine-mile drive to the launchpad for the Artemis lunar missions. The all-electric CTVs are specially designed to carry fully suited astronauts, support crew, and needed equipment to the launchpad.
The high-profile delivery might have short-sellers feeling like it's time to take profits and move on. Canoo shares have dropped more than 80% over the past year, even with today's spike. A three-vehicle delivery isn't going to solve the company's potential financial problems, but as it announces more and more deliveries, the stock could push higher.
Canoo ended the first quarter with just $6.7 million in cash and equivalents, so it will need to be generating meaningful revenue soon to ramp up operations. The stock remains highly speculative, but every bit of good news helps the potential long-term story, and that seems to be pushing the stock sharply higher today.
