Electric vehicle charging company ChargePoint collapses after sales decline, and executives are replaced

(Bloomberg) — Shares of ChargePoint Holdings Inc. have collapsed. After the company announced the surprise replacement of its longtime CEO and posted disappointing quarterly revenues.

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The stock — which has already lost more than two-thirds of its value this year — fell as much as 38%, the largest intraday decline on record. The electric vehicle charging company’s market value has fallen to about $750 million from a peak of $11.2 billion in June 2021.

The company said after the market closed on Thursday that Pasquale Romano, who had served as CEO since 2011, and Chief Financial Officer Rex Jackson had been replaced. ChargePoint also released preliminary results showing revenue falling to between $108 million and $113 million for the quarter ended last month, down from a year ago and well below its guidance of at least $150 million.

“We did not expect significant changes,” Gabe Dowd, an equity analyst at TD Cowen who rates ChargePoint the equivalent of a buy, wrote in a report Thursday. “The EV charging space has suffered significant headwinds this year – as evidenced by recent weak prints from other device/network providers – and despite being a leader in the CHPT space, it is not immune.”

Charging companies are struggling to compete in the United States with Tesla, which has built a vast network of plugs with a different connector design than the rest of the industry. The superior charging experience the electric vehicle manufacturer offers its customers has contributed to almost all major automakers switching to its connector as the new standard in North America.

Read more: Tesla’s smartest product has proven to be its charging network

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ChargePoint went public in 2021 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company as part of a wave of electric vehicle-related deals that included Lordstown Motors Corp. and Lucid Group Inc. Investors have been nervous about many of these companies, many of which were risky, early-stage projects that burn a lot of cash.

ChargePoint has promoted Rick Wilmer, who joined as chief operating officer in July of last year, to replace Romano, who will remain a consultant. Jackson has left the company and will be replaced on an interim basis by Mansi Khitani, senior vice president of financial planning and analysis.

– With the help of Mark Chidiac.

(Updates stock and market capitalization in second paragraph.)

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