Investors flee Lordstown again on thin Endurance forecast

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Shares in Lordstown Motors took another beating after the troubled electric truck maker revealed an underwhelming forecast for truck deliveries — one that would depend on raising more money and finalizing an partnership agreement with the manufacturer Foxconn.

Shares, which traded above $30 per share just a year ago, skidded 20% Monday to $2.53 per share after the company said it expected to produce just 3,000 of its flagship Endurance electric trucks before the end of 2023.

That's a paltry figure for a company that has to compete with giants like General Motors and Ford — who are investing massively in electric trucks — as well as startups flush with cash.

“Lordstown production guidance was a disaster and adds gasoline to the growing inferno the Street has witnessed with the name over the last year,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.

The huge sell-off in shares of Lordstown Monday took place as the stock of other electrical vehicle makers soared on fears that a widening conflict with Russia over Ukraine would lead to a spike in gasoline prices.

Tesla, Rivian and Lucid all jumped by 5% to 7%.

Lordstown has yet to sell a vehicle and lost $81 million in the fourth quarter, or 42 cents per share. That's better than the 77 cent loss industry analysts expected, but almost double the loss over the same period last year.

On a conference call with investors, Lordstown executives said they were still working on a partnership agreement with Foxconn, to which they sold a former GM plant in Ohio near Youngstown for $230 million last fall. Foxconn executives said a partnership with the world’s largest electronics maker and contract manufacturer would help it get its production scaled up faster, help to bring its costs down and provide...