Fisker stock slammed as EV maker cuts production forecast, delays Q3 filing due to 'material weaknesses' in financial controls
CEO Henrik Fisker said customers were waiting a long time for their vehicles and getting "annoyed."
Fisker (FSR) shares are sliding over 20% in midday trade after the pure-play electric vehicle maker cut its production guidance and delayed the filing of its 10-Q due to finding “material weaknesses” in its internal financial controls.
Fisker CFO Geeta Gupta-Fisker said the company is cutting its 2023 production guidance to a range of 13,000-17,000 units in order to enable the company’s “global delivery and logistics platform to scale” and not sit on inventory. Fisker’s challenges with delivery resulted in 4,725 vehicles produced, but only 1,097 delivered. CEO Henrik Fisker said customers were waiting a long time for their vehicles, and were getting “annoyed.”
Fisker’s production forecast stood at 20,000-23,000 units, which itself was reduced from a prior forecast of 32,000-36,000 in May, and again from 42,400 earlier this year.
Even more alarming for investors is the delay in filing its Form 10-Q quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. After pushing back its earnings release a week ago due to the appointment of a new chief accounting officer on Nov. 6 (the position was previously vacated on Oct. 27) Fisker said in a filing that it “determined that it has material weaknesses in the company’s internal control over financial reporting.”
Fisker said the company would discuss those material weaknesses when it does file its 10-Q.
That being said, for the quarter on a preliminary basis, Fisker reported revenue of $71.8 million vs. $100.8 million estimated by Bloomberg. Fisker reported an EPS loss of $0.27, versus the $0.21 loss expected. This resulted in a net loss of $91 million, and an adjusted gross margin percentage of 9%. Fisker reported its cash and cash equivalents stood at $527.4 million at the end of the quarter.
From a pricing point of view, Fisker made pricing adjustments for its lone Ocean SUV, cutting its top trim Ocean Extreme by $7,500 to $61,499, excluding shipping. The Ocean SUVs are made in Austria, and therefore do not qualify for the federal EV tax credit.
Fisker said it will raise the price of the mid-level Ocean Ultra trim by $3,000 to $52,999, excluding shipping, and hike the entry-level Sport model by $1,000 to $38,999, excluding shipping.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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