Welcome to The Fly's latest edition of "Charged," where we look back at some recent analysts' notes, news and activity in the electric vehicle and clean energy space.
PLAID+ CANCELED: Elon Musk said via Twitter that Tesla (TSLA) won't make the previously discussed Model S version Plaid +. "Model S goes to Plaid speed this week... Plaid+ is canceled. No need, as Plaid is just so good," he tweeted.
SUPPLY CHAIN 'BIGGEST CHALLENGE': Tesla CEO Elon Musk also said via Twitter, "Our biggest challenge is supply chain, especially microcontroller chips. Never seen anything like it. Fear of running out is causing every company to overorder - like the toilet paper shortage, but at epic scale. That said, it's obv not a long-term issue." Musk was responding to a tweet that read: "Quick thought - Fact: $TSLA is shipping cars from China to Europe and increasing prices in the U.S. underlying reality: demand in the US is insane, Tesla has to increase prices and keep all local production onshore to manage it. 2Q21 print will be interesting!"
TESLA RECALL: Tesla is recalling 734 units of its Model 3 car produced in 2019 and shipped to China, CNBC's Evelyn Cheng reported, citing the State Administration for Market Regulation. The announcement follows recalls of tens of thousands of Tesla vehicles in China and the U.S. in the last several months. The cars either have a seat belt or tire-related problem, the regulator said.
BREAKUP MEME: Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday a meme about a couple breaking up over over the male quoting Linkin Park lyrics along with the hashtag #Bitcoin and a broken heart emoji. Following the tweet, the CEO added another post to the thread showing a couple videochatting with the female saying, "I miss you."
AMD RYZEN: During its Computex 2021 keynote, AMD (AMD) revealed that the new Tesla infotainment system for the Model S and X, which Elon Musk claims will be capable of running video games such as "The Witcher 3" and "Cyberpunk 2077," consists of an AMD Ryzen processors with its own integrated graphics paired with an AMD RDNA 2 GPU, The Verge's Sean Hollister reported. "So we actually have an AMD Ryzen APU powering the infotainment system in both cars as well as a discrete RDNA2-based GPU that kicks in when running AAA games, providing up to 10 teraflops of compute power.... we look forward to giving gamers a great platform for AAA gaming," AMD CEO Lisa Su said.
PLUG POWER, RENAULT JV: Renault (RNSDF) and Plug Power (PLUG) are launching their joint venture HYVIA, as outlined in the memorandum of understanding agreement signed on January 12th, 2021. The joint venture is equally owned by the two partners and is chaired by David Holderbach, with over 20 years of experience in strategic, product and international sales at the Renault. The name HYVIA is a contraction of "HY" for hydrogen and the Latin word "VIA" for road, embodying the ambition to open a new path toward low-carbon mobility. Commercial vehicles such as LCVs require greater range and shorter refueling time, operational demands where hydrogen fuel cells are the unparalleled energy solution. The first three fuel cell vehicles brought to market by HYVIA will be based on the Renault Master platform and should be available in Europe by end of 2021 and accompanied with the deployment of charging stations and the supply of green hydrogen.
WORKHORSE SEEN AS FAIRLY VALUED: Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osborne downgraded Workhorse Group (WKHS) to Market Perform from Outperform with an unchanged price target of $13. The shares are fairly valued following the recent rally, which is not supported by fundamentals or company specific catalysts, Osborne told investors in a research note. The analyst sees second and third quarters as being a "critical period of time" for Workhorse as deliveries of the C1000 ramp up while "competitive dynamics intensify." Osborne does not see "major near-term catalysts to buoy shares further." Workhorse has a "solid opportunity" to gain momentum through the remainder of 2021 and into 2022 with its partner network, but the shares are fairly valued following the recent rally of select stocks that are heavily shorted by institutional investors, known as the "meme stock rally," the analyst contended.
ENPHASE 'FULLY VALUED' TOO: Guggenheim analyst Joseph Osha initiated coverage of Enphase Energy with a Neutral rating. The analyst noted that the company's market share gains in residential solar are likely to continue, with competitor SolarEdge (SEDG) remaining relevant but pursuing other paths to growth that do not target Enphase's residential market. At 57-times expected next-12-months EBITDA, however, Enphase Energy shares look "fully valued," Osha added.
POTENTIAL OF STORAGE OFFERING: Guggenheim analyst Joseph Osha initiated coverage of SolarEdge (SEDG) with a Buy rating and $314 price target. Along with Enphase Energy (ENPH), the company offers competitive momentum in residential solar, even though it is likely losing market share in that space, the analyst told investors in a research note. Osha added, however, that SolarEdge's much-delayed storage offering should be an asset once that product hits the market, in particular if the company is successful in ramping its internal battery cell supply.
BLOOM TAX EQUITY OVERHANGS EASING: Bank of America analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith upgraded Bloom Energy (BE) to Neutral from Underperform with a $25 price target. The analyst believes that in the near-term, "tax equity overhangs" on the shares will ease with the management expressing confidence of a resolution despite delays. Dumoulin-Smith further cited his confidence in Bloom's backlog execution, "resiliency focus of customers," and the potential for "direct pay in federal bill" benefits.
Tesla
-6.02 (-1.00%)
AMD
-0.76 (-0.93%)
Renault
+ (+0.00%)
Plug Power
+1.87 (+6.11%)
Workhorse Group
+1.455 (+11.15%)
SolarEdge
-8.7 (-3.60%)
Enphase Energy
+2.54 (+1.89%)
Bloom Energy
+1.2 (+4.89%)