A Lordstown electric truck.
Courtesy Lordstown
Lordstown Motors is late with a financial filing to Nasdaq, where its shares are listed—and could be delisted if the electrical vehicle start-up doesn’t answer a SEC-issued Notice of Delinquency.
The possibility of delisting, though, is slim since Lordstown plans to provide the filings by July 27, which is 60 days from the date that Nasdaq first notified the company about the filing, Lordstown said in a statement late Friday.
Despite the regulatory flub, shares of Lordstown (ticker: RIDE) were up 5.3% to $13.18 at 1:14 p.m. Monday. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were up slightly. Also up were other EV stocks, which have seen higher-than-average short selling. Workhorse (WKHS), for example, was up 11%.
Companies have to meet listing requirements to list on major U.S. stock exchanges. One is keeping up with financial filings such as quarterly reports. Lordstown is late in filing its first-quarter report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lordstown, in its statement, made clear that it “expected” the notice and intends to file the information “as soon as soon as possible within the timeline prescribedby Nasdaq.”
The delay might be related to an accounting issue facing many companies that merged with special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs. Lordstown went public in October after a merger with DiamondPeak Holdings.
The SEC changed how companies should account for stock warrants, which are common in SPAC mergers. Warrants give holders the right to buy shares at a set price. Before the change, warrants were accounted for like stock; now, the government wants companies to classify warrants as debt.
Lordstown didn’t respond to a request for comment about its late filing or if the warrants issue caused the delay.
Lordstown stock has hit a rough patch lately. Shares are down about 25% over the past three month, 37% year to date and about 60% from their September 52-week high. New competition, rising interest rates, which hurt richly value growth stocks more than others, and production delays have all weighed on shares this year.
Lordstown is up along with other EV stocks which have seen higher than average short selling. Workhorse (WKHS) stock is up 11%. AMC Entertainment (AMC) is up 17% in Monday trading.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
