Nikola stock price today: a wild ride for the embattled EV truck maker

Shares in Nikola Corporation are surging after the company’s CEO held a fireside chat (September 26, 2023) and announced that its hydrogen fuel cell trucks would be delivered on time. Here’s what you need to know.

What’s happened? Nikola Corporation shares (ticker: NKLA) surged (September 26, 2023) by over 32%, closing at $1.15 after the company’s new CEO, Steve Girsky, confirmed that deliveries of its hydrogen fuel cell trucks would be made by the end of the month. NKLA stock is up a further 9.5% at the time of this writing in premarket trading to $1.26 per share.
How has the share price performed recently? Not great. Last month, NKLA shares crashed from a high of $3.39 to $1.18 by the end of the month after the company announced a recall of hundreds of battery-electric trucks due to coolant leaks that may have started a fire. The stock sunk further this month to a low of around 87 cents before popping up to $1.15 (September 26, 2023).
What did Nikola’s CEO say about the truck deliveries? Girsky, who was named CEO in August, told investors that while deliveries of its battery-electric trucks have been paused, its other trucks—powered by hydrogen fuel cells—would be delivered on time. “We want you all to be aware that the battery-electric truck recall does not affect the production or deliveries of the fuel cell electric vehicle since it uses a different battery pack from a different supplier,” the CEO said, according to MarketWatch. He added that the hydrogen fuel cell trucks began production on July 31 and would be delivered to dealers in late September or early October. 
Did he also address the recall? Yes. Girsky noted that “All fixes [to the recalled trucks] are and will undergo thorough validation testing prior to release.”
So things are looking up for NKLA stock? Over the last two days, yes. But over the last few years, no. Back on June 1, 2020, NKLA stock was trading at over $67 per share. By January 1, 2021, it had fallen to $23. By January 1, 2022, it had fallen to $8. And by this January it had fallen to $2.71 per share. Since then, it’s lost over half its value in the year-to-date.