Shares in Miami-based car-charging firm slide after reports raise doubt about company
Shares in Blink Charging Co., a Miami Beach-based firm that sells electric vehicle charging equipment, plummeted 16% to $7.94 Thursday after two different stock research groups cast doubts about the company’s viability.
On Wednesday, Mariner Research Group published a report raising questions about Blink’s “product quality, customer churn, and user experience.”
“We believe that the underlying business here is not positioned to compete with its peers and thus will not ‘catch up’ to industry growth,“ it said.
These issues, Mariner said, lead it to call into question the “legitimacy” of Blink’s more-than 500% share-price surge since June.
Mariner disclosed that it is “shorting” the stock, or betting on the stock’s decline.
Earlier Wednesday, Culper Research noted similar concerns. Culper also alleged that while Blink has claimed drivers “can easily charge at any of its 15,000 charging stations,” it estimates the company only actively maintains about 2,200 stations. Culper is also shorting the stock.
“In stark contrast to management’s further claims that these chargers are high-tech and in high demand, our investigators confirmed what Blink’s financials already suggest: almost no one uses Blink’s charging stations, many of which are in utterly decrepit condition,” the group wrote.
In response to the reports, two different securities litigation law firms put out press releases Wednesday saying they were investigating the claims and calling on investors to contact them.
In a statement released Thursday, Blink denied the claims.
“The Company has become aware of false, defamatory, and anonymous reports posted on August 19, 2020,” it said. “We believe these ‘reports’ were intended to manipulate our stock price downward in support of short sellers. Blink Charging categorically denies the allegations and their implications.” The company said it is reviewing its legal options.
On Aug. 13, Blink, which trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker BLNK, reported a quarterly loss of $3 million on $1.6 million in revenues — wider than the $2 million loss it reported in the same quarter last year.
As of December 31, 2019, it had 67 employees, including 63 full-time employees.
Blink did not respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 5:35 PM.
