Competition is heating up in the electric vehicle (EV) space. Investors have largely focused on three companies recently: Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Volkswagen Group (OTCMKTS:VWAGY) and QuantumScape Corporation (NYSE:QS).
But what if I told you there’s another horse in this race? I’m talking about Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Apple has flown under the radar for some time now, secretly working on its own electric vehicle, Project Titan, since 2014. The project has been rumored and then shelved several times, but Apple looks to be finally moving forward with its own self-driving car technology, targeting 2024 for its release date.
Personally, I predict that the Apple car will be made by VW Group, which invested $300 million in QuantumScape before it went public. Interestingly, there has been a “revolving door” between Apple’s Titan team and VW Group’s Project Artemis, nicknamed “LandJet,” to build the first truly revolutionary vehicle with solid-state batteries for Audi, Bentley and Porsche (all owned by VW Group).
The most important person that has gone back and forth from the Titan and LandJet teams is Alexander Hitzinger, who also helped Porsche develop its 919 racecar that won the LeMans race three times and set the track record at Nürburgring, Spa and other famous racetracks. The 919 racecar is incredible; it was faster at Spa than a Formula 1 racecar with only a 4-cylinder engine and its hybrid technology.
Hitzinger was lured away from Apple’s Titan project by VW Group and announced back in January that VW Autonomy would show off autonomous buses at the World Cup in 2022.
Regarding Project Artemis, Hitzinger said that “The idea behind Artemis is to have a comprehensive understanding of the vehicle. When something is optimized, this has knock-on effects and these need to be understood.” He added that “The human-machine interface, the interior design, the exterior design, aerodynamics and the range are all interconnected. If I modify something on the exterior, it will impact the aerodynamics and the efficiency.”
Both Apple and VW Group want to introduce their revolutionary vehicles in 2024, which is when QuantumScape will open its first plant to build solid-state batteries before building a second bigger plant in 2025. Essentially, the timelines for both Apple and VW Group are identical, so I am expecting the new “people’s car” to be an Apple vehicle built by VW Group, which will also make a “LandJet” for Audi, Bentley and Porsche. By combining two highly respected brand names to make a new autonomous people’s car, Apple and VW are both guaranteed to be big winners.
With all the “buzz” about the new Apple car and QuantumScape being the likely solid-state battery supplier, TSLA has been consolidating. The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) money that has been chasing “disruptive change,” like Tesla and QuantumScape, do not care about fundamentals like sales, earnings and price-to-earnings ratios.
QuantumScape, in particular, is significantly overbought. The stock briefly hit a $47 billion market cap last week, but keep in mind that its first plant is not scheduled to open until 2024 and is not forecasted to make money until 2027. The truth of the matter is the stock does not have the fundamentals to support its sky-high valuation, so do not be surprised if it consolidates, like it did today.
It’s why I only invest in fundamentally superior growth stocks. These are the types of growing companies that investors will rotate to as Wall Street looks past the hype and focuses more on company fundamentals.
This is especially important as the fourth-quarter earnings season kicks off in mid-January. This will be another phenomenal earnings season, thanks to easy year-over-year comparisons. My Growth Investor Buy Lists are chock full with fundamentally superior companies, so I expect investors to gravitate to my high-quality stocks and drive them higher as their earnings reports roll out.
If you want to get into position to ride the next earnings wave, please join me at Growth Investor today.
And on that note, I’d like to wrap up today’s article by wishing you a happy and healthy New Year! The stock market will be closed on Friday, January 1, as will the InvestorPlace offices. I will be back in touch with my next Market360 article on Saturday, so stay tuned!
Note: The Editor hereby discloses that as of the date of this email, the Editor, directly or indirectly, owned the following securities that are the subject of the commentary, analysis, opinions, advice, or recommendations in, or which are otherwise mentioned in, the essay set forth below:
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Louis Navellier had an unconventional start, as a grad student who accidentally built a market-beating stock system — with returns rivaling even Warren Buffett. In his latest feat, Louis discovered the “Master Key” to profiting from the biggest tech revolution of this (or any) generation.
