The bad news just keeps coming for high-end electric vehicle (EV) maker Fisker (FSRN -12.70%). On Thursday, an analyst cut his price target on the stock by 25%, spurring yet another sell-off of the struggling company's shares. They fell a steep 14%, on a day when the S&P 500 landed in positive territory by inching up 0.1%.
Cut by one-quarter
The person wielding the scissors was influential veteran auto sector analyst Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley. Before market open on Thursday, Jonas reduced his Fisker price target to $3 per share from the preceding $4. He maintained his underweight (i.e., sell) recommendation as he did so.
Jonas has been a confirmed Fisker bear since nearly the beginning of this year. In late January, he downgraded his recommendation on the stock from equal weight (hold) to the current designation.
At the time, he wrote that his and his team's key reasons were the company's "need for capital, an unfavorable rebalancing of supply and demand in the EV space [...] and a potentially crowded EV market during a time of ongoing deterioration in the macro environment."
Third-quarter earnings were concerning
Jonas is not the only pundit or investor recently getting more bearish on Fisker's future. On Monday, after market close, the company reported its third-quarter earnings. These missed badly on the top line, while the net loss was deeper than analysts expected.
Worse, and an unforgivable transgression as far as many EV investors are concerned, the company made a deep cut to its 2023 production guidance. It is now modeling a figure of 13,000 to 17,000 units for the year, down substantially from its previous forecast of 20,000 to 23,000.
