Blink Charging's CEO says drop in EV sales is mostly a Tesla problem

By Tomi Kilgore

The EV-charging company's CEO said reports of Tesla's layoffs in the Supercharger unit has been good for Blink's business

Shares of Blink Charging Co. initially rallied Friday, before reversing course to close slightly lower, after the provider of electric-vehicle charging equipment and services suggested the recent news regarding Tesla Inc.'s Supercharger unit was actually good for business.

Blink Chief Executive Brendan Jones also looked to ease concerns that overall demand for EVs was falling, saying it was mostly a Tesla problem.

Blink's stock (BLNK) rallied as much as 7.7% intraday, but a late-day selloff took it down 0.7% to $2.82 at Friday's close. The company had reported late Thursday a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss and revenue that rose above forecasts. Meanwhile, Tesla's stock (TSLA) closed down 2% at $168.47.

On the company's post-earnings call with analysts late Thursday, Jones acknowledged that there was "a bit of a decline" in the number of EVs sold during the first quarter as compared with the fourth quarter.

"This decline is primarily due to Tesla volumes, as the other nine leading EV manufacturers, excluding Tesla, reported EV sales growth of over 50% in [the first quarter] of 2024," Jones said, according to an AlphaSense transcript.

Hyundai, Kia, Ford, Mercedes, Cadillac and BMW are among those other nine EV makers, he said.

Needham analyst Chris Pierce asked on the call what the "Tesla news" meant for Blink's business, referring to recent reports that Tesla laid off about 500 employees as the Supercharger unit was closed. Jones responded: "[I] think the thing that we can say factually is we've received quite a bit of inbound inquiries already when the news came out, and we put ourselves in a position that we're poised to take advantage of them when they actually materialize into an offer order and order. So, yes, it has created some momentum for us."

Following Jones's comment, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tried to dispel the notion that the Supercharger business was dead, saying Tesla planned to spend more than $500 million to create thousands of new EV chargers.

Blink reported first-quarter net losses that narrowed to $17.2 million, or 17 cents a share, from $29.8 million, or 53 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. That beat the FactSet consensus for a per-share loss of 23 cents.

Total revenue jumped 73.3% to $37.6 million, above the FactSet consensus of $34.6 million.

Product sales increased 68% to $27.5 million, with the company citing "strong demand" for charging equipment and services, while service revenue was up 72% to $8.2 million amid greater utilization of chargers in both the U.S. and internationally.

The company reiterated its full-year 2024 revenue target of between $165 million and $175 million and said it expects to continue to achieve profitability on an adjusted Ebitda basis by December 2024. Ebitda refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Blink's stock has lost 16.8% year to date, while Tesla shares have tumbled 32.2%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 SPX has gained 9.5% this year.

-Tomi Kilgore

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05-12-24 0739ET

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