A Lion 6 electric truck charging at a Lion facility in Saint-Jerome, Quebec. (Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg News)
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Shares of Lion Electric Co. fell as much as 10.5% after the electric vehicle manufacturer missed estimates for revenue and its cash balance dropped.
The Canadian company, which makes electric buses and trucks, said revenue was $55.5 million, well below the $69.4 million expected by analysts tracked by Bloomberg. It has been hurt by bottlenecks in a government program that helps public transit and school bus operators purchase new vehicles.
More than half of the vehicles in Lion Electric’s $475 million order book are tied to funding from the Canadian government’s Zero-Emission Transit Fund. Delays and challenges with approvals in that program “continue to negatively impact the company’s scheduled deliveries and sales efforts,” Lion Electric said in a filing.
Its order book shrunk to 2,004 units, down about 3% from the end of February.
Some orders may be canceled or renegotiated if they’re not completed before the deadline for sending claims to the ZETF at the end of 2025, which is leading to uncertainty, National Bank Financial analyst Rupert Merer said in a note to investors. But the company may be able to boost orders through U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants and Quebec government subsidies for school buses, he added.
Lion ⚡ announces its financial and operating results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, which ended on March 31, 2024.
📖 Read more about it here: https://t.co/rvMxOklnzY #LionElectric #pressrelease #financialresults #electrification #electric pic.twitter.com/VeiFZZyAyQ
— Lion Electric (@LionElectricCo) May 8, 2024
RELATED: Lion Electric Introduces New Medium-Duty Truck
Merer downgraded his rating on the stock to underperform and lowered his price target to $1 on “elevated risk related to liquidity limitations and continued delays facing the ZETF program.” The shares were around 97 cents in mid-afternoon trading in New York, down nearly 7% from Tuesday’s closing price.
Lion Electric’s cash balance dwindled to $4.8 million from around $30 million at the end of December. The manufacturer, which is 34% owned by Montreal-based holding company Power Corp. of Canada, has been trying to address liquidity concerns. In April, it laid off 120 employees, following layoffs in February and November. It estimates that all of its recent cost-cutting measures will lead to $40 million in savings annually.
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