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What's in the Offing for Fisker (FSR) This Earnings Season?

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Fisker Inc.’s third-quarter 2021 results are slated for a Nov 3 release, after the closing bell. This will be the fourth time that the electric vehicle (EV) start-up would release quarterly numbers, post its debut on NYSE on Oct 30, 2020. The company has surpassed estimates in all three preceding quarters, the average surprise being 32.6%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at a loss of 34 cents per share for the third quarter, wider than the loss of 16 cents incurred in second-quarter 2021. The loss estimate has also widened by 7 cents over the past 90 days.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Fisker this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP, and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold), increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here. This has been elaborated below.

Earnings ESP: Fisker has an Earnings ESP of -2.94%. This is because the Most Accurate Estimate of loss of 35 cents per share is pegged one cent higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Fisker, peers of which include Nikola (NKLA - Free Report) , Hyliion Holdings (HYLN - Free Report) and Canoo (GOEV - Free Report) , currently carries a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Key Developments in Q3

Fisker announced a $10-million private investment in public equity and a partnership with Allego, a leading EV charging network provider. This unique partnership will enable customers buying or leasing a Fisker Ocean between Jan 1, 2023 and Mar 31, 2024 to benefit from one year of free charging on the Allego network. The firm also partnered with Bridgestone, making the latter its exclusive tire partner for Fisker Ocean. Further, Fisker joined forces with renowned racing drive — Abbie Eaton — for developing the next-generation EV performance dynamics for Fisker Ocean and other vehicles to follow. These agreements raise optimism on Fisker’s future. Encouragingly, as of Aug 2, Fisker had more than 17,500 reservations for the Ocean SUV.

Factors to Shape Q3 Results

Fisker has not generated any meaningful revenues to date and the production of its first vehicle Ocean SUV will only begin by fourth-quarter 2022. Thus, given that the company is still in its nascent stage and will take time to capture a niche in the EV landscape, it is burning cash, which might have affected the bottom line in the quarter to be reported.

In the last reported quarter, the firm spent $45 million in R&D activities, significantly higher than the $27.3 million incurred in the first quarter of 2021 and the $0.19 million incurred in the second quarter of 2020. For the full year, Fisker plans to spend in the range of $295-$320 million and $195-$210 million in operating expenses and capex, respectively, to support its ramp-up plans. Such elevated spending is expected to have further dented the company’s margins in the to-be-reported quarter.


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