By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK ChargePoint Holdings' stock slumped by nearly 38% to a record low on Friday after the electric vehicle (EV) charging network slashed its third quarter revenue forecast and replaced key executives.
ChargePoint expects revenue to drop to between $108 million and $113 million, far below a previous forecast of between $150 million and $165 million, owing to weak demand caused by delays in electric vehicle deliveries in North America and Europe, the company said after the closing bell on Thursday. It will report its third quarter results on Dec. 6.
California-based ChargePoint also announced that longtime Chief Executive Pasquale Romano will be replaced by Rick Wilmer, its chief operating officer, effective immediately. Rex Jackson, ChargePoint's chief financial officer, has departed the company and will be replaced on an interim basis by Mansi Khetani, a senior vice president, it also said.
ChargePoint's stock plunged to $1.95, its lowest level on record, following the announcements. The stock is now down roughly 80% year-to-date and is a fraction of its closing price of around $30 when it went public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition vehicle in 2021.
Multiple analysts, including JPMorgan, Cowen, Oppenheimer, and Needham, slashed their price targets and one downgraded its rating on ChargePoint's stock after the news. The median price target of the 22 analysts covering the company is $8.13, down from $10 a month ago, and their current recommendation is "buy", according to LSEG data.
"Based on recent investor interactions and multiple negative datapoints across the EV value chain, sentiment in the EV charging space has been muted and we are not surprised that ChargePoint F3Q (third-quarter) revenues would track below expectations," JPMorgan analysts led by Bill Peterson wrote in an investor note.
"However, the magnitude of the miss and the deceleration late in the quarter doesn't bode well for near-term fundamentals for ChargePoint or the broader EV value chain in general, and EV charging specifically," the analysts added.
The shares of other major EV charging network providers besides ChargePoint were also trading lower. Blink Charging was down more than 8% while EVgo Inc dropped 2%.
ChargePoint continues to be a "clear leader" from a technology and comprehensive solution perspective, said Oppenheimer analysts led by Colin Rusch in an investor note. But they downgraded the company to "perform" from "outperform" citing the executive departures, choppy demand, and "potential for further organizational changes."
(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Lance Tupper; editing by David Evans)
