What happened
Electric vehicle (EV) maker Fisker (FSRN -12.70%) short-circuited on the market Friday. The company's share price fell by more than 7% on the back of some dispiriting news about financing. That decline was far steeper than the 0.1% fall of the S&P 500 index on the day.
So what
In a regulatory filing, Fisker disclosed that it has effectively ended an at-the-market (ATM) issue of its common stock. The EV company said this was due to its terminating of a distribution agreement of those shares with a pair of investment banks, JPMorgan Chase unit J.P. Morgan Securities and Cowen.
The ATM offering was for up to $350 million worth of stock. Fisker said that as of this past Wednesday, July 12, around $23.4 million was still available under the program.
While no investor likes when a company shuts off a money tap, Fisker is not in desperate need of capital. Production and deliveries of its flagship Ocean SUV have already begun; much of the expense in vehicle making comes in the build-out of factories and initial production costs.
Now what
Another reason why the Friday sell-off might have been an overreaction is that Fisker is clearly not having trouble raising funds of late. In fact, at the start of the week it announced that it is issuing $300 million or more of convertible notes to an institutional investor. And at present, those notes look quite attractive, as they convert to common stock at $7.80 apiece; the shares currently trade for far lower than that.
