Earlier this week, investor Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio) revealed his firm increased its stake in Fisker Inc. (FSR, Financial) by 18.70%.
The guru’s New York-based hedge fund, Moore Capital Management, takes a global macro-based approach to stock picking. Founded in 1989, the firm consolidated its three flagship funds into one and closed itself to outside investors in 2019.
According to GuruFocus Real-Time Picks, a Premium feature based on 13D, 13G and Form 4 filings, Bacon invested in 1.60 million shares of the Manhattan Beach, California-based automaker on March 31, which had an impact of 0.23% on the equity portfolio. The stock traded for an average price of $6.14 per share on the day of the transaction.
He now holds a total of 10.18 million shares, which occupy 1.49% of the equity portfolio. GuruFocus estimates Bacon has lost 43.92% on the investment since establishing it in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The 13F filing for the three months ended Dec. 31 shows the stock is Bacon’s eighth-largest holding.
Investors should be aware 13F filings do not give a complete picture of a firm’s holdings as the reports only include its positions in U.S. stocks and American depository receipts, but they can still provide valuable information. Further, the reports only reflect trades and holdings as of the most-recent portfolio filing date, which may or may not be held by the reporting firm today or even when this article was published.
About Fisker
Founded in October of 2016, Fisker focuses on designing and manufacturing what it calls “the world’s most sustainable and emotional electric vehicles.” The startup company is in the process of rolling out its flagship line of Ocean SUVs, while its Pear and Ronin models are still in the development stage.
Fisker, which operates through a single segment currently, had its public debut in October of 2020.
Ocean rollout and development updates
On April 26, Fisker announced European regulators have certified the Ocean SUV, meaning it can begin delivering the vehicles to European customers.
In a statement, founder, Chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker said deliveries of the vehicle are expected to begin on May 5 to those who made reservations.
“After that, we intend to deliver all Ocean Ones by the end of September while also initiating some deliveries of the Fisker Ocean Extreme, starting in Europe with the U.S. to follow,” he said.
In February, the company noted its Austrian manufacturing partner, Magna International Inc. (MGA, Financial), had built a total of 56 Ocean cars as of Dec. 31. Manufacturing had only been started the month before. It projects more than 40,000 vehicles will be built this year.
Further, Fisker noted it had “approximately 65,000” reservations for the Ocean as of Feb. 24. Because they are being built in Europe, however, they will not qualify for the U.S.’s new EV incentives.
While a definitive deadline has not been set for the Ronin sports car, the company said on its website it plans to begin production of its compact five-seat Pear vehicles in 2024 at a facility in Ohio.
Earnings review
On Feb. 27, Fisker reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, the company posted a net loss of $170 million, or 54 cents per share, which widened from the prior-year quarter. Revenue came in at $306,000. Both figures also fell short of Refinitiv analysts’ estimates of a loss of 42 cents per share on $2.50 million in revenue.
As for the full year, Fisker recorded $340,000 in sales and a net loss of $548 million.
While the results do not seem impressive, the company also said it spent less money last year than it expected. It spent a total of $702 million, well below its guidance range of $715 million to $790 million. Further, Fisker had $736.50 million in cash remaining at year-end. It is currently anticipating that it will spend between $535 million and $610 million in 2023.
Fisker will release its first-quarter 2023 results on May 9.
Valuation
The company has a $1.93 billion market cap; its shares were trading around $6.08 on Thursday with a price-book ratio of 4.02 and a price-sales ratio of 6,030.30.
Since its initial public offering, the stock has tumbled 44.30%. While shares have seen a small recovery over the past month, Fisker is still down nearly 9% year to date.
At 18 out of 100, the GF Score indicates the company has poor performance potential. Since it only received ratings for two of the five criteria, however, Fisker’s prospects are not accurately reflected.
Guru interest
Of the gurus invested in Fisker, Bacon’s firm has the largest stake by far with 3.18% of its outstanding shares.
Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio)’s Gotham Asset Management and Jefferies Group (Trades, Portfolio) also have positions in the stock as of the fourth quarter.
Portfolio composition
Bacon’s $4.20 billion equity portfolio, which the 13F filing showed was composed of 538 stocks as of the end of fourth-quarter 2022, is most heavily invested in the financial services and technology sectors.
Other vehicles and parts companies the guru was invested in as of Dec. 31 included Carvana Co. (CVNA, Financial), Tesla Inc. (TSLA, Financial), LiveWire Group Inc. (LVWR. WS), Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC (PSNY, Financial), Luminar Technologies Inc. (LAZR, Financial), Allego NV (ALLG.WS, Financial), Gogoro Inc. (GGR, Financial) and ECARX Holdings Inc. (ECXWW, Financial).
