Benzinga - by Shanthi Rexaline, Benzinga Editor.
Vietnamese electric vehicle startup VinFast Auto Ltd. (NYSE:VFS) has seen its shares catapult from under $11 at the time of its SPAC listing to over $82, giving it a heady valuation of more than $191 billion.
According to Benzinga Pro data, the stock closed Monday's session up 19.75% at $82.35. The strong gains have made VinFast the third most valued automaker after Tesla and Toyota Motors
What Happened: Commenting on the development, noted Tesla investor and Future Fund Managing Partner Gary Black said VinFast at $200 billion market cap is an even bigger bubble than Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ:NKLA), which in 2020 traded at $60 per share and had a $25 billion market cap.
‘Hard to get the timing right, and hard to locate shares to short but likely to be an even bigger short,” the fund manager said.
Black had in 2020 forecast a 75% slump in Nikola shares to $15. Incidentally, the stock settled the year at $15.26. It has come off way below this level and is currently trading in penny stock territory.
“My $NKLA short call in 2000 when $NKLA was at $60/share. Now $1.25,” Black said.
Why It's Important: With the meteoric rise in stock price, VinFast has now left major legacy makers biting the dust. The Vietnamese EV maker's market cap is now more than the combined market cap of Ford, GM, and Volkswagen.
This is despite the registrations for VinFast’s EVs hitting only 137 in the U.S. in the first half of the year. The company expects to sell 50,000 EVs this year. The strong rally is seen as a function of limited float as Vietnam's richest person Pham Nhat Vuong, controls 99.7% of the company through the parent company Vingroup.
In premarket trading on Tuesday, the stock fell 0.43% to $82, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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