The shares of electric-vehicle charging company ChargePoint (US:CHPT) have been tumbling since February amid increasing doubts about the value and strength of electric vehicle charging firms. Moreover, a roster of insiders have been selling their CHPT stock in recent weeks, data compiled by Fintel shows.
On the other hand, the put/call ratios of CHPT stock are generally bullish, and the shares could easily see a short squeeze. Also noteworthy is that a number of big institutional buyers poured into ChargePoint shares last quarter.
A Tumbling Stock and Insider Selling
Since touching a 2023 high of $13.38 on Feb. 15, CHPT stock has lost almost 29% of its value. That’s more than two times the 13.4% decline in the ALPS Clean Energy ETF (US:ACES), which has ChargePoint’s portfolio allocation at 2.99% of its 45 holdings.
In recent weeks, the stock has tumbled as multiple EV makers, including Ford (US:F) and General Motors (US:GM), have announced deals to utilize Tesla’s (US:TSLA) extensive U.S. EV charger network.
As far as insider sales are concerned, there was an exodus of insiders from the stock on June 23. CEO Romano Pasquale unloaded 20,000 shares, while CFO Rex Jackson parted ways with 16,176 shares, COO Richard Wilmer got rid of nearly 21,000 shares, and Chief Revenue Officer Michael Hughes dumped 14,224 shares.
On June 22 and June 21, Pasquale sold a total of 30,000 shares. On June 16, he sold 10,000 units. Finally, board member Michael Linse unloaded nearly 905,000 shares combined on June 16 and June 21.
Meanwhile, D.E. Shaw, the well-known investment adviser, bought 3.3 million shares of CHPT in the first quarter, while investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald acquired 126,300 shares and Morgan Stanley purchased 2.49 million shares.
Upbeat Put/Call Ratios and Short-Squeeze Potential
The overall put/call ratio of CHPT stock is a bullish 0.65. Moreover, the put/call ratios on the stock in recent days have been very upbeat. On June 28, the ratio was 0.10, while the metric came in at 0.15 on June 27 and 0.04 on June 26.
The put/call ratios for options that expire in the coming weeks are less bullish. For options that expire on June 30, the ratio is 1.12. The metrics for July 7 and July 14 are a more bullish 0.49 and 0.4, respectively.
On the short squeeze front, Fintel’s quant model gives CHPT a Short Squeeze Score of 69.39, ranking it 1,208 out of 4,346 stocks analyzed.
Interestingly, yesterday morning, there were no shares of CHPT available to short; at last look today, June 30, 350,000 shares were available. The annual interest rate charged for those wanting to borrow the shares to short is now an elevated 26.1%.
On June 27 and June 28, over 60% of the trading volume of CHPT stock consisted of short sales of the name.
This article originally appeared on Fintel
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