EV stocks ride January wave on price cuts, takeover interest

By Trey Thoelcke Updated Feb 1, 11:13AM EST · Published Feb 1, 4:11AM EST

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EV stocks ride January wave on price cuts, takeover interest — © Nikola Corp.

In today’s issue:

— EV stocks lead January rally on price wars, takeover interest

— So just how complicated are the new EV tax credits?

— Forget obscene oil earnings — new data show renewable investment topped fossil fuel financing for the first time last year. Here’s why there’s no looking back.

— The EU could boost its own green subsidies and tax credits

— New snow-making tech could end up being worse than the problem it’s designed to solve

A spate of selling on Wall Street this week ahead of the Federal Reserve Meeting today and Wednesday has put the brakes on a surprising January rally in electric vehicle stocks, which had some long-dormant names such as Lucid Group $LCID and Nikola Corp. $NKLA spiking in recent sessions.

Fired up by a budding price war between the likes of Tesla $TSLA , Ford Motor Co. $F and others, investors leaped back into the EV sector this past month in the hopes that a weaker economic downturn than expected and the beginning of a new bull market might continue to drive the mass shift among car buyers to EVs.

Tesla started the run just two weeks ago by slashing prices on some of its most popular models by up to 20%, simultaneously igniting new demand and pissing off existing owners who bought only months ago at higher prices. Ford announced cuts to its Mach-3 EV on Monday. All cuts are designed in part to make the models eligible for tax credits offered by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

But no stock has jumped as much as Lucid Motors, which is up more than a third in the past week on stalk that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund, which owns 65% of the company, may buyout the rest and take it private. Lucid shares have been a disappointment in the past few years, and the Saudis might be willing to just take it out rather than watch its public value decline further.

Consumer demand for EVs never really faded during the inflation spiral last year. If anything, lack of supply helped boost interest. Even with talk of a recession coming, it seems clear the EV transition will continue, and be even bigger this year now that prices are being cut. Investors are making their bets on who will come out ahead.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.