Electric vehicle charging company ChargePoint plunges after sales sag and executives replaced
(Bloomberg) — ChargePoint Holdings Inc. shares slumped after the company announced the sudden replacement of its longtime CEO and reported disappointing quarterly revenue.
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The stock – which had already lost more than two-thirds of its value this year – plunged as much as 38%, its biggest intraday drop on record. The electric vehicle charging company’s market capitalization has fallen to around $750 million, from a high of $11.2 billion in June 2021.
The company announced after market close Thursday that Pasquale Romano, CEO since 2011, and CFO Rex Jackson had been replaced. ChargePoint also released preliminary results showing revenue fell between $108 million and $113 million for the quarter ended last month, down from last year and well below its forecast of at least $150 million. of dollars.
“We didn’t see big changes coming,” Gabe Daoud, an equity analyst at TD Cowen, who rates ChargePoint the equivalent of a buy, wrote in a report Thursday. “The electric vehicle charging space has suffered significant headwinds this year – as evidenced by recent weak results from other hardware/network providers – and although it is a leader, CHPT is not at the forefront. ‘shelter.
Charging companies in the United States have struggled to compete with Tesla Inc., which has built a vast network of outlets with a different connector design than the rest of the industry. The superior charging experience the electric vehicle maker offers its customers has contributed to nearly every major automaker adopting its connector as the new North American standard.
Read more: Tesla’s smartest product turns out to be its charging network
ChargePoint went public in 2021 by merging with a special purpose acquisition company as part of a flurry of electric vehicle-related deals that included Lordstown Motors Corp. and Lucid Group Inc. Investors have soured on many of these companies, many of which were risky, to begin with. companies on stage burn a lot of money.
ChargePoint has promoted Rick Wilmer, who joined the company as chief operating officer in July of last year, to replace Romano, who will remain an advisor. Jackson has left the company and will be replaced on an interim basis by Mansi Khetani, senior vice president of financial planning and analysis.
–With help from Mark Chediak.
(Updated shares and market value in second paragraph.)
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