EV charging stocks to buy now haven’t been too attractive lately. But don’t write them off just yet.
Not helping, electric vehicle sales slowed in the first quarter of the year. According to Kelley Blue Book, about 270,000 EVs were sold in the quarter. That was up about 2.6% year over year. However, that’s down about 7.5% quarter over quarter. Unfortunately, in the months ahead, sales will continue to be weak.
All thanks to high prices, high-interest rates, and a severe lack of charging stations across the U.S. As noted by the Associated Press, “Electric vehicle sales growth slowed during the first three months of the year, with mainstream buyers wary of limited range and a lack of charging stations.”
We constantly hear that billions have been invested in EV charging infrastructure. McKinsey has noted we’ll need 28 million charging ports by 2030. PwC noted that “The accelerated expansion of the charging infrastructure will be needed to serve the needs of a new generation of EV owners.” Still, there’s a severe shortage of charging stations, which won’t convince on-the-fence EV buyers to buy.
If the U.S. is serious about reaching its net-zero goals, it needs to get moving on charging infrastructure. Knowing that it has to happen, I’d use weakness in EV charging stocks to buy as an opportunity with:
Blink Charging (BLNK)
Over the last few weeks, Blink Charging (NASDAQ:BLNK) jumped from about $2.35 to a high of $3.14. Since then, it pulled back to strong support dating back to November. Better, each time it falls to this support line at around $2.35, it tends to bounce back shortly after. If you pull up a one-year chart of BLNK, you can see it’s happened about four times since late last year.
Earnings have been okay. In its fourth quarter, the company’s earnings per share loss of 28 cents missed by two cents. However, revenue of $42.71 million – up nearly 89% year over year – beat by $8.65 million. For full-year 2024, the company forecast revenue to fall in a range of $165 million to $175 million. It also believes it can achieve positive adjusted EBITDA.
In addition, “The market has constantly been told that EV charging station demand is off the charts with the need for millions of new chargers. Yet, Blink Charging and other EV charging station companies outside of Tesla Super Chargers regularly struggle to generate material revenues on services and software that include fees for customers using the chargers,” as noted by Seeking Alpha.
EVgo (EVGO)
EVgo (NASDAQ:EVGO) has been a recent disaster, too.
However, after pulling back to $1.80, it appears to have caught triple-bottom support dating back to November. And just as we’ve seen with BLNK, EVGO tends to bounce off this support line. If you pull up a one-year chart, you can see it.
Helping, analysts at RBC Capital upgraded the stock to an outperform rating from sector perform, with a target of $4. “The automotive industry is moving toward electrification, and we believe EVgo is well positioned to benefit from this secular trend,” RBC Capital added.
Recent earnings have been so-so. It posted a loss of 12 cents in its recent quarter, which was up from a six-cent loss year over year. However, sales of $50 million did beat by $5.69 million. And while the company expects to be EBITDA-positive by next year, that really depends on improvements in the EV charging market and EV sales.
Beam Global (BEEM)
While Beam Global (NASDAQ:BEEM) slipped from about $7.25 to a low of $5.25, it is showing signs of life again. Since bottoming out, it’s now back to $6.20 and accelerating. All after the company’s fourth quarter revenues hit a record high of $20 million, which was up 153.2% year over year, and beat expectations by $1.76. million. And while its net loss came in at $5.1 million, it was a 74% year-over-year improvement.
Even better, BEEM is quickly expanding in Europe and was just awarded a U.S. patent for wireless EV charging. “With this new patented technology, a driver will have the ability to fuel a vehicle by doing no more than parking on the EV ARC,” said Desmond Wheatley, CEO of Beam Global. “We believe that increasing numbers of EVs will be equipped with wireless charging receivers and fleet operators and public charging operators will seek efficient methods to deploy the transmitters without having to perform permitted construction and electrical work.”
On the date of publication, Ian Cooper did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
