In a followup to last week’s short report, Hindenburg Research says Nikola’s response yesterday was a “tacit admission of securities fraud.” The firm, who profits when the shares move lower, said in a post on its website: “We included 53 questions at the end of our report that we believe shareholders deserve answers to. The company promised a full point-by-point rebuttal, but then only responded to 10 of our questions. Of those 10 responses, the company debunked nothing. Instead it either confirmed or sidestepped virtually everything we wrote about, and in some cases raised new unanswered questions…In our report, we explained how the company released a video called ‘Nikola One in Motion’, which made it seem that its Nikola One semi-truck was traveling under its own power at a high rate of speed. Angles in the video were edited to make it appear as though the semi was moving on a roadway that was flat, or even uphill. In Monday’s response, the company acknowledged that its vehicle was not functioning under its own power, and instead, was apparently simply showcasing the power of gravity. It claimed that using the term ‘in motion’ dispelled the deceptive nature of the video. We disagree. Beyond common sense, the company referred to the Nikola One as ‘the 1,000 HP, zero-emission Nikola One semi-truck’ in the description of its video. Obviously, the truck can’t have 1,000 horsepower or even 1 horsepower if it doesn’t power itself.” Shares of Nikola are down 6%, or $2.05, to $33.74 in premarket trading.
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