Fisker Shares Drop After EV Startup Leaves Spending Unchanged

(Bloomberg) -- Fisker Inc. shares fell after the electric carmaking startup kept its capital spending forecast steady for the full year.

The company, which plans to debut its first model next year, said Monday it lost 63 cents a share in the first quarter and left unchanged a previous projection for expenditures of $210 million to $240 million on plants and equipment in 2021.

The shares fell by as much as 4.2% in aftermarket trading after gaining 6.9% to $11.22 at the close in New York. The stock is down 23% this year.

Fisker is one of several EV startups chasing industry leader Tesla Inc. Like many of its peers, Fisker cashed in on investor interest in EV startups by going public through a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, raising $977 million.

The Los Angeles-based company, which boasts an “asset light” model based on outsourcing manufacturing, still has that money. It ended the quarter with around $985 million in cash and equivalents.

Fisker had little new to announce after its disclosure last week of plans to outsource manufacturing of another EV with Foxconn at a new factory to be built in the U.S., with plans to start production by the fourth quarter of 2023. That represented an extension of an existing relationship between Fisker and Foxconn, whose main listed arm is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.

While Fisker hasn’t generated meaningful revenue, investors use quarterly earnings to reports to gage the company’s progress on major milestones. Its debut car -- an all-electric sport utility vehicle called the Ocean -- is due to start production at the end of 2022. It will be built in Graz, Austria, by contract manufacturer Magna International Inc.

The aspiring EV startup managed to rack up $22,000 in sales in the first three months of the year, mostly from promotional merchandise such as branded baseball caps, T-shirts and water bottles.

Fisker is the second battery-powered-car venture founded by its namesake, Chief Executive Officer Henrik Fisker, a longtime auto designer. Fisker’s first venture, Fisker Automotive, filed for bankruptcy in 2013.

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