San Pedro, CA - December 17: The first two zero-emissions electric trucks, from an order of 100 vehicles, delivered from the Nikola Corporation to Total Transportation Services at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro on Friday, December 17, 2021.
Shares of Nikola Corp. surged Thursday by more than 17% after the embattled electric vehicle start-up reported a narrower-than-expected loss during the fourth quarter and confirmed plans for truck production and revenue generation in 2022.
The pre-revenue company, which recently settled a federal probe into misleading investors, reported an operating loss of $90.4 million, or 23 cents per share. That compared with Wall Street's expectations of a loss of 32 cents per share, according to analysts compiled by Refinitiv.
After hitting a new 52-week low of $6.41 a share Thursday morning, the stock closed at $8.04 a share, up by 17.7%. The stock remains down 20.8% in 2022.
Nikola said it expects to generate revenue of between $90 million and $150 million in 2022 on deliveries of between 300 and 500 of its first battery-electric semitrucks — known as the Nikola Tre — to customers.