The first earnings report for electric-truck maker Nikola was a bumpy one, with executives and analysts trading barbs and investors sending the company’s shares plunging.
The stock fell 18 percent in late trading on Tuesday after Nikola, which is developing big rigs that run on batteries and fuel cells, said it lost $86.64 million in the second quarter, compared with $17.2 million in the same period last year.
Within minutes of Nikola releasing its statement, its founder Trevor Milton posted on Twitter that the Phoenix, Ariz.-based company had provided analysts with figures on its share count. He wrote that taking those figures into account, Nikola beat expectations, contrary to some who said it fell short.
“We actually beat our earnings by 20 percent,” he wrote. “They had the share count wrong. I have zero control as we can’t give out info prior to earnings.”
Analysts responded by pressing CEO Mark Russell on Nikola’s earnings call for more infor…