What Makes Mullen Automotive the Hottest Stock This Week?

This week, emerging electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Mullen Automotive, Inc. (MULN) announced plans to start EV battery pack production at its high-voltage battery R&D facility in California.

These battery packs are meant for the company’s EV offerings, including the ONE EV Cargo Van, FIVE EV Crossover, and DragonFLY EV Sportscar programs. Notably, the move will help the company reduce its dependency on third-party suppliers while also lowering material and supply shortage risks.

Mullen CEO and Chairman, David Michery, commented, “The entire industry is struggling with supply chain issues, and the more control we have in-house, the better off our vehicle programs will be.”

Additionally, Michery has also teased a key announcement about the purchase of cargo vans by a major Fortune 500 company in the second quarter.

Why Mullen?

So, why are we highlighting Mullen this week, which debuted on NASDAQ in November 2021 and has dropped 71% in 2022 already?

This month, Insider Monkey included Mullen in its five penny stocks for April. On the other hand, Hindunberg Research has red-flagged Mullen, accusing the company of deceiving investors. The short seller noted Mullen’s R & D investment figures in solid-state batteries fall short of what other companies are spending.

Since its listing, the company has debuted two versions of the Mullen FIVE show cars and acquired a vehicle manufacturing facility in Mississippi. It has announced a slew of partnerships recently, including with hofer powertrain, Comau, ARRK, Durr, and DSA Systems. These tie-ups are expected to help Mullen bring EVs to market with the latest technology and lower lead time.

In November 2021, its Mullen FIVE was designated “Top Zero Emission SUV” at the Los Angeles International Auto Show. Additionally, Mullen has over 120 patent filings in 24 countries associated with Mullen FIVE. Its electric van, Mullen ONE, is expected to hit the market in Q2 2022.

Moreover, the company recently promoted John Taylor (a veteran of General Motors and Tesla) to Senior Vice-President of Global Manufacturing and Strategic Planning.

Promising Battery Research

Mullen is working on solid-state polymer battery technology, which is quite advanced compared to lithium-ion batteries. It is working on using solid-state polymer battery packs in its 2^nd Gen Mullen FIVE EV crossovers, for which in-vehicle prototype testing is slated for 2025. Its 1^st Gen FIVE EV crossover is expected to launch with traditional lithium-ion cells in late 2024.

The company’s solid-state polymer cell tests have indicated a 150-kilowatt-hour battery pack that can offer a 600+ mile range and an 18-minute DC fast charge that can provide a 300-mile range.

The company is also working on other advanced battery technologies, which include lithium-sulfur and lithium-iron-phosphate. Mullen is aiming to deliver EV batteries that will be better than current lithium-ion tech while also offering higher efficiency, range, and energy density along with lower costs and weight.

The company is pursuing a hybrid retail model that will be a mix of direct and franchise. These direct stores are expected to be one-tenth the size of traditional dealerships, with a focus on integration with local communities. The stores, which the company is calling “lounge points,” could also have food concepts to integrate with the community.

What Does TipRanks Data Indicate?

While Elon Musk’s stake reveal and buyout offer for Twitter (TWTR) generated a lot of interest in the stock, a major point is that over the past 30 days, Mullen stock has seen more Google searches than Twitter on some days. Let’s see what the TipRanks database reveals about Mullen.

Over the past 10 days, the average volume of the stock has been around 82.8 million, which is more than 30% of the ~239.4 million outstanding shares of the company. This is an 80x jump in average daily volume since February.

While Mullen has yet to pop up on analysts’ radar, it has been trending on Reddit, StockTwits, Google, and Swaggy Stocks. TipRanks data shows investor sentiment is very positive on Mullen, with the number of portfolios holding the stock up about 62% in the past 30 days alone.

Moreover, while 62% of MULN holders fall into the 35–55 age bracket, the highest holdings changes in the stock (232.7%) have come from the over–55 age category of investors.

Notably, Popa Calin, the President of Mullen, bought shares in the company nine days ago.

Closing Note

This heightened interest from retail investors came alongside a nearly 7x move in the share price in March as a result of a massive short squeeze. While the share price is down about 37% in the last five trading days, the increased trading volume still points to positive investor sentiment toward the stock. The stock has a short interest of about 15.5% at present.

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