Shares of Nikola Corp. NKLA rose 1.5% in premarket trading Tuesday, putting them on track to open at $1 or higher, after the electric vehicle maker reported a first-quarter loss that matched expectations even as revenue fell short. The net loss was $169.1 million, or 31 cents a share, after a loss of $152.9 million, or 37 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The per-share loss narrowed even as net losses widened as shares outstanding used in calculating per-share results increased by 32.4% to 549.7 million shares. Revenue increased nearly 6-fold to $11.12 million from $1.89 million, but was below the FactSet consensus of $12.88 million. The company said it has “reprioritized” its business, including focusing on North America, hydrogen fuel cell trucks and autonomous technologies, and is therefore selling its stake in the European manufacturing joint venture to Iveco Group for $35 million in cash and 20.6 million Nikola shares returned to the company. The stock has plunged 54.4% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 7.8%.
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