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Nikola (NKLA) shares were down about 15% during Friday’s session, even after the company released a statement calling a recent short-seller report “not accurate” and a “hit job for short sale profit driven by greed.”
The Hindenburg Research report released on Thursday accused founder Trevor Milton and the company of “intricate fraud.”. It made numerous claims against Milton and the electric vehicle company, sending shares down 11% yesterday.
In a statement released this morning Nikola said: “Yesterday, an activist short-seller whose motivation is to manipulate the market and profit from a manufactured decline in our stock price published a so-called ‘report’ replete with misleading information and salacious accusations directed at our founder and executive chairman.”
The statement went on to say, “To be clear, this was not a research report and it is not accurate. This was a hit job for short sale profit driven by greed. We have nothing to hide and we will refute these allegations.”
The electric truck startup says it is evaluating potential legal recourse. It also plans to approach the Security and Exchange Commission with the short-seller’s actions and provide evidence and documents defending itself.
Some investors were expecting a more detailed rebuttal of the short-seller report from Milton or the company, especially since the founder had tweeted yesterday that one was coming. Today Milton said he has addressed each point, but his rebuttal will have to wait to be released.
Shares of Nikola fell near session lows earlier this morning after Citron Research, also a short-seller firm, tweeted its support for the Hindenburg report.
Hindenburg alleges it has “gathered extensive evidence—including recorded phone calls, text messages, private emails and behind-the-scenes photographs.” It claims that “Nikola staged a video” which showed the Nikola One semi-truck “cruising on a road at a high rate of speed.”