(Bloomberg) — General Motors Co.’s move to adapt its electric vehicles to use Tesla Inc.’s network of Superchargers has sent shares reeling for other makers of EV charging stations.
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EVgo Inc. sank 12% Friday, its worst day in nearly a month. ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. shed 13%, and Blink Charging Co. fell 11% for its largest daily loss since February. Beam Global, which designs clean energy systems for electric vehicle charging, slid 4.9%.
GM is the second major automaker to say it will use Tesla’s charging network. Ford Motor Co. announced a similar move in May. Tesla rose 4.1% on Friday, extending a $200 billion rally into an 11th day, while GM gained 1.1%.
While the pact is weighing heavily on other EV charging companies, the market may be overreacting, according to some on Wall Street.
“We think the news is overblown, though we would acknowledge that the news does put into question what GM is planning long-term with EVgo, which has been one of its key charging partners,” JPMorgan analyst Bill Peterson wrote in a note.
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JPMorgan continues to see overweight-rated ChargePoint as well-positioned to benefit in areas where Tesla doesn’t compete, such as work, multifamily and fleet. They are less clear on EVgo’s direction in the long-term, but said the company continues to have significant partnerships with other EV makers including Toyota Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp. It’s likely that even given the news with Tesla, GM could take a multi-faceted approach in the future. JPMorgan has a neutral rating on EVgo.
Bank of America agrees that the news is more uncertain for EVgo, for which it has an underperform rating, even though GM identified an ongoing commitment to its eXtend business.
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“We expect investors will be uneasy about competition as it now has another major partner,” BofA analyst Alex Vrabel said in a note. “In a more direct sense, given it is the site host, EVgo will now compete more directly for utilization against TSLA’s highly reliable network serving a larger piece of the future EV fleet.”
That’s not an issue for hardware-provider ChargePoint, as its network is largely fleet-focused, according to BofA, which reiterated its buy rating on the company.
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