Replies to post #11444 on Keeping It Simple

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Workhorse Group, Inc. (Nasd: WKHS)

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These EV Stocks Rally As President Biden To Electrify Federal Fleets

APARNA NARAYANAN08:49 AM ET 01/26/2021

Several EV stocks rose early Tuesday as the Biden administration seeks to replace combustion vehicles in government fleets with electric vehicles.

The president's order late Monday comes automakers plan a massive shift to electric SUVs, trucks and delivery vans. Starting in late 2021, General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) will bring new electric vans to market.

Just weeks ago, GM launched a new EV business focused on the delivery market, called BrightDrop. Its first electric car will be the EV600 van for commercial — and perhaps government — fleet buyers.

Workhorse Group (WKHS), EV startups such as Canoo (GOEV), and Amazon (AMZN)-backed Rivian also eye the fast-growing market for commercial delivery vehicles. Rivian is making electric vans for Amazon, with the first 10,000 due by early 2022.

GM and Ford already have a lot of fleet experience, and government fleet buyers have a lot of experience with them.

For Tesla, its big selling points — such as self-driving technology and a cool brand – could be less relevant to government fleet buys. Its claimed range advantage also could be less of a factor if mass charging stations proliferate at government facilities.

IBD Live: A New Tool For Daily Stock Market Analysis

EV Stocks
Shares of Workhorse jumped 11.6% to 27.58 in premarket trading on the stock market today. Lordstown Motors (RIDE), which is making the Endurance pickup for fleets, rose 7.4% early Tuesday.

GM stock dipped 0.7%, Tesla rose 1.4%, while Ford edged down 0.4%. Among other EV stocks, Canoo lost 2.9%, but Hylion (HYLN), another maker of electric trucks, rose 3%, and Nikola (NKLA) gained 3.2%.

Canoo specializes in cars, minibuses and commercial vehicles for rental and sharing services. Last month, it unveiled delivery van models that will go into limited production in 2022, with commercial production and rollout seen in 2023.

Meanwhile, Lordstown said last month it has 80,000 reservations for its Endurance electric pickup truck. The company said it remains on track to begin production of Endurance in September of 2021.

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WKHS +7.19 +28% 56m volume so far Ave. Volume 14m

30.99 old high cpps 31.82 (10:18 mtn)

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WKHS

Open Gaps
Direction Date range
up Jan-26-2021 25.77 to 26.51

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Hola WKHS. What up? cpps $14.43

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WKHS

fighting to hold that

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UPDATE 1-U.S. lawmakers introducing bill to give USPS $6 bln for EV delivery vehicles
11:18 AM ET, 03/08/2021 - Reuters

(Adds no immediate Workhorse comment, no USPS comment)

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - A group of 17 U.S. House Democrats on Monday are introducing legislation on Monday that would award $6 billion to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to buy tens of thousands of additional electric delivery vehicles.

The bill sponsored by Representative Jared Huffman and seen by Reuters would require at least 75% of the new fleet be electric or zero-emission vehicles.

Last month, the USPS said it was committed to having electric vehicles make up 10% of its next-generation fleet as part of its multibillion-dollar plan to retire its 30-year-old delivery vehicles, but could boost that if it received billions of dollars in government assistance.

The legislation is backed by some key Democrats, including Representative Peter DeFazio, who chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Representative Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the Oversight and Reform committee that oversees USPS.

The bill would also require no less than 50% of medium/heavy-duty vehicle purchases be electric or zero-emission through 2029 and all new USPS vehicles be zero-emission after January 2040.

The USPS said last month it had awarded a $482 million contact to Oshkosh Defense to finalize production for the next-generation postal vehicles, rejecting a proposal from electric-vehicle maker Workhorse Group Inc, which met last week with the Postal Service to question its decision. The USPS and Workhorse did not immediately comment Monday on the legislation.

The contract, which could be worth more than $6 billion in total, allows for delivery of between 50,000 and 165,000 of the vehicles over 10 years.

In January, President Joe Biden vowed to replace the U.S. government’s fleet of roughly 650,000 vehicles with electric models.

Asked what it would take to buy 90% EVs, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told lawmakers last month: "We don’t have the 3 or 4 extra billion in our plan right now that it would take to do it." (Reporting by David Shepardson; additional reporting by Ben Klayman; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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Workhorse Surges Amid Lawmaker Probe, EV Bill for Postal Trucks

Ari Natter, Todd Shields and Lillianna Byington
Mon, March 8, 2021, 9:48 AM·

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-trade-oshkosh-shares-postal-010141205.html

Workhorse Surges Amid Lawmaker Probe, EV Bill for Postal Trucks


(Bloomberg) -- Workhorse Group Inc. rose after a U.S. lawmaker raised questions about a $54.2 million late-day block trade in competitor Oshkosh Corp. on the eve of a blockbuster U.S. Postal Service contract award and Democrats proposed $6 billion to electrify the agency’s vehicle fleet.

Legislation being introduced Monday by Representative Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, would require at least 75% of vehicles being procured by the post office to replace its existing gas-guzzling fleet be electric or zero emissions, according to a bill summary. The funding would need additional approval by congressional appropriators.

Separately, Ohio Representative Tim Ryan spotlighted the 524,400-share Oshkosh deal, which came in after-hours trading on Feb. 22 ahead of the company’s surprise win of the postal truck contract. The size of that trade was almost as much as average daily volume in the stock in the prior year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Ryan’s demands for an investigation added fuel to Workhorse’s long-shot bid to overturn its loss to Oshkosh, which surged as much as 16% on Feb. 23, the day the Postal Service announced the maker of military trucks had won a contract to construct a fleet that will consist mostly of combustion engine vehicles.

The holdings would be worth $59.8 million at this Oshkosh price of $114.08 at 11:35 a.m., or more than $5 million above the purchase price. The parties involved in the trade couldn’t be determined.

“It definitely stinks and needs to be looked into at the highest levels,” Ryan, an Ohio Democrat who is fighting the award to Oshkosh, said in an interview. “If that is not suspicious, I don’t know what is. Somebody clearly knew something.”

Ryan said he will ask the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate. Representatives of the agency didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.

Workhorse shares rose as much as 29.3% Monday and were briefly paused and were trading up 10.2% to $15.12, at 11:35 in New York.

The Postal Service awarded Oshkosh, a Wisconsin-based maker of military trucks, a 10-year contract for as many as 165,000 vehicles worth as much as $6 billion.

Ryan is backing the losing bid of Workhorse which has a 10% stake in Lordstown Motors Corp., which makes electric vehicles at a facility in Ryan’s congressional district.

An Oshkosh representative didn’t respond to a voicemail and email seeking comment. Its shares were down 0.28% to $113.21 Monday at 10:26 a.m. in New York.

The move to award Oshkosh the contract stunned Wall Street analysts who had predicted Workhorse’s proposal to make electric trucks would win at least some of the order. Workhorse is considering challenging the award.

Trades outside of normal market hours can have a significant impact on share prices because market activity is thinner.

Ryan, who said he is drafting a letter to the SEC, has joined with Ohio Democrats Marcy Kaptur and Senator Sherrod Brown in calling for the Biden administration to halt and review the Postal Service award to Oshkosh.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

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Workhorse Lawyers Up In Mail Truck Contract Dispute With Postal Service

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/workhorse-lawyers-mail-truck-contract-171437068.html

Thu, March 4, 2021, 10:14 AM·2 min read


Workhorse Group (NASDAQ: WKHS) expects a "prolonged process" to alter the U.S. Postal Service's decision to award next-generation mail truck business to defense contractor Oshkosh Truck Corp. (NYSE: OSK).

The Loveland, Ohio-based Workhorse was stunned last week when the Postal Service awarded a 10-year contract initially worth $482 million to the Wisconsin company. Oshkosh makes military vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances.

The Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) business came down to three finalists. Workhorse offered the only battery-electric powered vehicle (EV). That was consistent with President Joe Biden's executive order to make all 645,000 federal fleet vehicles zero-emissions EVs.

Investors had bid up Workhorse shares to record levels. They expected it would get at least a piece of the multibillion-dollar contract. When that didn't happen, Workhorse shares lost 50% of their value in two days. Analysts, in turn, cut their target prices.

"While we were not modeling success in the USPS [competition], we had anticipated Workhorse would play a role in the contract, especially given the administration's stance around government fleets being zero emission," Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osborne wrote on Monday after Workhorse's Q4 earnings call.

Hiring lawyers and consultants

After a meeting with the Postal Service on Wednesday, Workhorse said it will "follow the proper due course procedures as defined by the USPS and will also look to other options available to us," Workhorse CEO Duane Hughes said in a press release Thursday.

"In the interim, we have retained the services of leading legal and corporate advisory firms, including Akin Gump Straus Hauer & Feld LLP and Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass LLP, to identify our options and pursue them effectively," he said.

Workhorse shares traded at $13.76, down 7.77% at 10:28 a.m. Thursday. The meme stock frenzy briefly pushed Workhorse shares above $42 a few weeks ago.

"With the loss of the extremely lucrative USPS NGDV contract, Workhorse lost its single-biggest chance to gain scale in the EV market," short seller Phillip Martinelli wrote Monday on the investor site Seeking Alpha.

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WKHS: You being Memed?

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Workhorse Group Latest Electric Truck Maker Under SEC Scrutiny
FreightWaves

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/workhorse-group-latest-electric-truck-143527777.html

Thu, September 2, 2021, 8:35 AM·3 min read


Troubled electric delivery van manufacturer Workhorse Group is the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission probe, the latest electric truck company drawing scrutiny over short-seller allegations of shady business practices.

The investigation surfaced Wednesday as part of a report by Fuzzy Panda, which alleged Workhorse fabricated orders and improperly recognized revenue for trucks it had not delivered. Its report contained numerous other claims of shady business dealings by the Loveland, Ohio-based company.

A short seller borrows shares in a company betting the stock price will decline, which allows the short seller to repay the borrowed shares and pocket a profit.

Short Seller Stalkings

The tactic has become common in the past 18 months as pre-revenue startups and young companies begin public trading through sponsorship by special purpose acquisition companies, essentially shell companies created specifically to find a merger target. The SEC began issuing guidance in April prompting SPACs to be more transparent.

Hindenburg Research, another short-seller, has leveled allegations at troubled electric pickup truck startup Lordstown Motors Corp. (LMC) and earlier at startup electric truck maker Nikola Corp.

Nikola (NASDAQ: NKLA) parted ways with founder and CEO Trevor Milton last September following Hindenburg's 67-page report. Milton was indicted July 29 on three federal fraud charges for allegedly trying to drive Nikola's stock price higher for personal benefit. The SEC is also investigating Milton.

In both cases, Hindenburg unloaded on founders — Milton and Lordstown's Steve Burns — who served in top leadership and held the largest number of outstanding shares in their respective companies.

Ties To Lordstown Motors?

Workhorse (NASDAQ: WKHS) is a little different than the typical short-seller target, though 38% of its outstanding shares are shorted, according to The Wall Street Journal. Workhorse, founded by Burns in 2007, has been publicly traded since 2011 and became part of the Nasdaq since 2016.

Much of its public life has been spent mired in heavy debt due to borrowing from hedge funds. And it has had myriad manufacturing issues, preventing meaningful revenue and profits.

Workhorse, displaying a C-1000 electric van at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Long Beach, California, declined to comment on the Fuzzy Panda report of the SEC investigation.

Its links to LMC (NASDAQ: RIDE), effectively a Workhorse spinoff started in November 2019 by Burns, who founded Workhorse in 2007 and resigned as CEO in February 2019. The SEC's investigation of Lordstown may or may not have prompted SEC scrutiny. The agency isn't saying anything other than confirming to Fuzzy Panda that an investigation was ongoing as of June 30.

The SEC is investigating LMC overinflating preorders for its Endurance pickup truck. Separately, LMC in June filed a "notice of going concern" with the SEC, suggesting that without new money, it might be out of business within a year. It reiterated that notice in July.

Burns, who resigned as LMC CEO in June, also could be the subject of a Justice Department probe of LMC. He orchestrated the licensing of Workhorse technology in exchange for a 10% stake in LMC as well as royalties on the conversion of reservations for electric pickups Workhorse designed but lacked the money to manufacture.

Workhorse, which recently replaced CEO Duane Hughes with former Delphi Technologies CEO Rich Dauch, sold 72% of its LMC shares for about $79 million.

The Fuzzy Panda report contributed to Workhorse shares closing 6.83% lower Wednesday at $9.14.

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NTS: WKHS current wash ends 11-12

(regarding last buy on 10-11 @ 6.21)

or Can extend sell of highs to 12-31 (friday) with additional buying up until tues 11-30 at latest for wash rules.

For repositioning