Atlis Motor Vehicles Inc., a Mesa electric vehicle startup, saw its shares soar in its debut on the Nasdaq last week. But after a short time seeing its share price rocket upward, Atlis stock is now trading below its original list value.
Atlis (Nasdaq: AMV) listed its shares at $27.50 on Sept. 27 and the price soared during after-market trading to open the following day at $243.99 a piece.
The share price has since come crashing back to reality, closing out trading on Oct. 7, at $18.97, a 31% decline from its listing price. Click here to follow the stock.
The price volatility can be explained, at least in part, by the relatively low amount of shares available for public investors to trade, called the float. With fewer shares being traded, each transaction has greater potential to move the share price.
AMV has historically raised money in various crowdfunding campaigns, but many of those early shares are restricted and unable to trade. The company said it is working on filing a Form S-1 in order to offer new securities to the market, which it says will unlock these restricted shares.
“Once the team files the S-1 (this is currently in progress and can only be done after the initial listing according to regulation), these shares will no longer be restricted,” the company wrote in an October 5 tweet.
Atlis Motor Vehicles raised more than $35 million from crowdfunding campaigns before it listed on the Nasdaq in 2022, but many early shareholders are unable to trade their stock.
The company has also tried to dispel the idea that its employees were cashing out their equity when the share price was high, a claim that CEO Mark Hanchett said in a Sept. 30 video could not happen because their equity is not registered for sale.
AMV has yet to report any revenue, and the company is still developing its trucks and the battery packs that will power them.
Competitive landscape
Meanwhile, other competitors are already selling trucks. Fellow EV startup Lordstown Motors said it had produced its first two trucks last week and that it planned to deliver 50 trucks to customers by the end of the year.
Lordstown said its future production is contingent on raising more capital. The company reported having $235 million in cash at the end of June and expects to end the year with $110 million; Atlis reported having just $683,000 in cash at the end of June.
Legacy vehicle makers — including Ford, Chevrolet and Ram— are also making electric versions of their most popular pickup trucks.
AMV took a unique path to the public market by converting its Regulation A+ crowdfunding campaign into a direct listing on the Nasdaq, meaning AMV did not raise new money by going public as in a traditional initial public offering.
Like AMV, Eugene, Oregon-based Arcimoto listed its shares on the Nasdaq back in 2017 by converting its Reg A+ offering into a direct listing.
Arcimoto (Nasdaq: FUV) builds all-electric three-wheeled vehicles, but it has struggled to scale after going public.
The company received a $20 million loan in early September after spending about $5 million to stay in operation each month, according to the Portland Business Journal.
Last week Arcimoto said it would cut about a third of its staff to refocus on its core offerings. In the first half of 2022, the company manufactured 128 vehicles and sold 65. It lost $30.3 million on sales of $2.1 million.
