Penny Stocks & Mistaken Identity? Lucid Motors In Focus
By: Joe Sirianni
Tags: Stocks, Electric Car, Lucid, Finance, Investing

Sometimes The Market Is Too Thirsty & Penny Stocks Benefit As A Result

Penny stocks are well-known for companies that are start-ups. From early pharma to cutting edge tech, small-cap stocks are sought after for their innovative approach to business. While many will never make it to commercialization, a select few have gone on to flourish becoming famous for their epic growth stories.

Why would I bring this up? Well, in the stock market, you’ve also got speculation to drive momentum. With a red hot IPO scene over the last few months, investors look for any edge to get in first. It’s not only recently but even as far back as Twitter’s ( TWTR Stock Report) IPO. If you haven’t been trading penny stocks over the last 7 years, you might not be familiar with Twitter’s mistaken identity. Let me explain.

Twitter stock IPOd in November of 2013. However, leading up to that, investors confusingly thought they were being smart by picking a stock symbol assumed to take Twitter into the public markets. Investors not doing anything but looking for letters mistook a nearly worthless stock of long-dead electronics retailer Tweeter for the “tweeting” site.

[Read More] A Penny Stock Jumps 14,900% After Mistaken Identity

This ended up sending shares up more than 1,000%. What was the reason? Tweeter’s stock symbol was TWTRQ (which also indicated that it was in bankruptcy, hence the “Q” as the 5th letter). While Twitter eventually took on “TWTR”, Tweeter was reassigned a symbol by FINRA, THEGQ, who deemed its previous symbol “too similar” to Twitter’s (insert eye-roll here).

Not The First Time Penny Stocks Had Mistaken Identity

Other notable “mix-ups” happened around the time when Zoom Video ( ZM Stock Report) was set to go public. Unbeknownst to a company called Zoom Technologies (F/k/a/ ZOOM), traders speculated that Zoom video would begin trading under the stock ticker “ZOOM”.

Now, this happened earlier in 2020 so you may have caught wind of or gotten caught up in the hype. ZOOM shares jumped from around $1 in January to highs of $60 by March; yes, a $59 dollar, 5,900% move. Shortly after that, trading ceased in Zoom Technologies. It was a China-based company that primarily engaged in technology and communications businesses.

The Latest Penny Stocks With Mistaken Identity?

The market is so enthusiastic right now that retail traders are chomping at the bit to find the next big breakout. Meanwhile, some have forgotten the lessons taught by Tweeter & Zoom Technologies.

There’s been a very big interest that has grown in electric vehicles lately. We’ve seen Tesla surpass $1,000 a share for the first time in history, Nio Inc. ( NIO Stock Report) recently turned its business around, and Nikola ( NKLA Stock Report) recently went public through a merger with VectoIQ (f/k/a/ VTIQ).

Seeing as the most recent “IPO” of Nikola took shares from around $10 (as VTIQ) to highs of over $90 within days, the hype is very real around the next big electric vehicle stock. With a brand-new, state-of-the-art factory almost complete and an energy-dense battery pack using cylindrical cells, Lucid Motors is being described as the “Tesla Killer”. While Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s CEO and CTO, “Please don’t describe us as a Tesla killer,” if you tell people not to do something, they’ll likely do it more.

Who Is Lucid Motors

Lucid Motors is a US startup lead by Peter Rawlinson, former Tesla Model S chief engineer. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund also backs the company who received more than $1 billion from the Saudi fund in September 2018. According to reports, it hasn’t raised any additional money since.

Its construction for the production facility is nearing completion and If all goes as planned, a luxurious new battery-electric sedan will roll off its production line this year. Furthermore, Lucid is expecting delivery in early 2021.

Aside from supplying batteries to Formula E racing, it’s gearing up to reveal its final production-ready Lucid Air sedan. Prices start at $60,000 with the Lucid Air offering an impressive 400-mile range, a top speed of 200 miles per hour, and a claimed zero-to-60-mph time of just 2.5 seconds.

What Is Lucid Motors’ Stock Price?

That’s the thing. Lucid Motors’ stock price doesn’t exist yet. Lucid was founded in 2007 under the name Atieva. Originally it focused on building electric vehicle batteries and powertrains for other vehicle manufacturers. But fast-forward a few years and the company rebranded to Lucid Motors in October 2016. It then officially announced its intent to develop an all-electric, high-performance luxury vehicle.

Other notable leadership includes former Tesla alum, Peter Hochholdinger and Eric Bach. Michael Carter is Lucid’s Vice President of People. He’s responsible for bringing all of these different minds together. His track record includes stints at Cisco, Qualcomm, and Intel. One of the people that isn’t on the team nor has any involvement with the company is L. Michael Hone. He’s the listed CEO for a company called Caliber Imaging & Diagnostics. That’s an OTC Listed, “dark or defunct” penny stock trading under the symbol LCDX.

Formerly known as Lucid Inc., the company changed its name to Caliber Imaging and Diagnostics ( LCDX Stock Report) in August of 2012. The focus of the company was to deliver identification tech for the diagnosis of certain diseases like skin cancer. Frankly speaking, had the company stuck around, they might have been able to take advantage of COVID testing.

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But the last PR to grace the newswires came out in 2014. Its last filing came out that year too. But I can see how this is confusing to some. A search for Lucid Motors stock produces results of other financial sites identifying LCDX as an associated ticker. The name changed to Caliber Imaging. The only thing relating LCDX and Lucid right now is a name that changed Augst 16, 2012.