After a 17% surge on Tuesday that resulted in a two-month high, hydrogen vehicle manufacturer Nikola suffered a 15% decrease in stock prices as markets came to a close. The Phoenix-based firm enjoyed a significant rise over the past few weeks in line with the electric vehicle market.
Nikola’s late setback on Tuesday is the second of its kind since June, when the vehicle producer was negatively affected by a conservative report posted by Citron Research—just two weeks after Nikola released a 54 million-share secondary offering.
This was due to questions regarding a December 2016 presentation that came to light, whereby claims were made about a Nikola-produced truck that was inoperable and had missing components.
The company began its recovery from this incident by announcing the sale of up to a quarter-billion shares by “certain selling shareholders”, during which time the firm’s shares suffered a 20% plummet.
While the announcement of a partnership with General Motors in September allowed for a momentary recovery, an investigation by the SEC into fraud allegations saw Nikola receive negative press yet again. This melodrama resulted in the resignation of chairman and founder Trevor Milton just two weeks later.
