- Tesla, Fisker and Rivian the most-traded stocks by value
- Shares surge as institutions forced to cover shorts
- Price war set to continue as Tesla signals more cuts
EV (electric vehicle) manufactures were the flavour of the week with customers of financial services platform AJ Bell, claiming the top three names traded by value.
Shares in electric carmakers have surged in recent weeks as retail investors have increased positive bets and forced institutional investors to ‘cover’ short positions.
Platform design and EV start-up Fisker (FSR:NYSE) was the most-traded stock by value and the third most-traded by number of trades over the last week.
The shares, which have gained 30% over the last month, were given a boost on 17 July after the firm announced it would make a special edition SUV for the Indian market.
The company said it would produce 100 Fisker Extreme Vigyan Edition all-electric SUVs with deliveries expected to start in the third quarter. Pricing is anticipated to be on a par with Europe.
The Fisker Ocean is expected to arrive in the UK later in 2023 with prices starting from around £36,000.
PRICE WAR DENTS MARGINS
Tesla (TLSA:NASDQ) was the second most-traded company by value on the AJ Bell platform with the shares falling 5% on 19 July after reporting lower second-quarter margins.
Gross margins, where analysts once had a 20% line in the sand drawn, were 18.2% versus 19.3% in Q1 and 22.4% of Q2 2022, as gross profit only grew 7% versus a 47% jump in revenues.
Meanwhile Tesla’s operating margin was 9.6% compared with 14.6% a year ago.
Chief executive Elon Musk also signaled a fall in third quarter production due to summer shutdowns and factory upgrades.
Going into the numbers the shares had gained 170% in 2023, so some profit taking was understandable. There may be more margin pain to come as the company guided for further price cuts.
The price war in electric vehicles is also affecting traditional car makers with Ford Motor (F:NYSE) slashing the price of its popular electric F-150 Lightening truck on Monday (17 July) sending its shares down 5%.
Ford has dropped the price of the base Pro variant F-150 by 16.6% to $49,995.
The news had a knock-on effect on electric truck maker Rivian Automotive (RIVN:NASDAQ), sending the shares 5% lower. Rivian was the third most-traded share on the AJ Bell platform and have almost doubled over the last month.
