Short Squeezes With Big Promises

Short squeezes have been making and breaking investors for a century. One of the greatest short squeezes in history started on a SubReddit, where hundreds of thousands of retail investors drove the price of GameStop GME shares up to an all-time high. While this will always a risky bet, GameStop remains a symbol of a company that went from representing retail struggles to executing a turnaround that defied expectations and conventions. Guided by an unorthodox CEO, just like the EV king Tesla Inc TSLA made history with its flamboyant CEO, Game Stop is an example of a remarkable shift that was led also by the company’s largest shareholder. By transitioning from the pandemic-era turmoil to creating a robust financial footing, GameStop defied the logic of not only retail but of general business as it showed that one can survive by not growing. 

But there are also lesser-known companies when it comes to the shorted universe, especially when it comes to the Tesla-made EV sector promising to revolutionize the future of the world.

Among such, there’s an EV charging company EVgo Inc EVGO with extremely volatile shares that just reported a record breaking third quarter. Over the last year, EVgo counted 78 moves greater than 5% till mid-October. EVgo was awareded by the market for signing a memorandum of understanding with its longtime technology partner, Delta Electronics Inc to co-develop next-generation charging architecture to offer a superior experience for its customers and advance long-term charging solutions, improving convenience and reliability. With its latest quarterly results, things are looking even more bullish as EVgo is doing a good job at containing losses, reporting revenue growth of 92% YoY as revenue amounted to $68 million, topping forecasts by 2.4%. Moreover, EVgo posted a record network throughput of 78 GWh which represents a 111% YoY increase as it added more than 270 new operational charging stalls. In addition, its customer base expanded with 147,000 new accounts, with the total now exceeding 1.2 million. While it did post a net loss of $33.3 million, strategic investments and cost management did result in an improved adjusted EBITDA.

Then there’s also Worksport Ltd WKSP, a manufacturer and innovator of “made-in-USA” tonneau covers, as well as hybrid and clean energy solutions for the light truck and consumer goods sectors, with very high short interest upon its latest earnings report. Worksport continues to write a remarkable early growth story filled with groundbreaking innovation. Worksport is eyeing a record 2025 as it just reported significant YoY revenue growth for the third quarter. During the third quarter, Worksport posted that revenue surged 581% YoY to $3.12 million, with B2C sales making 51% of total revenue as they grew from last year’s $21,599 to now adding as much as $1.59 million to the overall sales table. 

Back in August, Worksport reported just as impressive second quarter results for the period ended on June 30th, with revenue rising 860% YoY and 275% sequentially as it reached a new record of $1.92 million, and this was before several key launches. In September, Worksport launched the Alpha release of its clean energy off-grid power duo, the SOLIS solar-powered tonneau cover and COR portable battery system. The full launch is expected next year, while the AL4 tonneau cover will be released in the fourth quarter, bringing in substantial revenue in 2025. In 2025, Worksport is aiming to make 200 tonneau covers per day as well as to achieve cash flow positivity. Moreover, Worksport opened another growth pathway by getting a U.S. government agency among its buyers. 

Capitalizing on the rapid growth of another prominent EV startup, Rivian Automotive RIVN, Worksport revealed that its existing lineup of premium tonneau covers is nearly finished compatibility engineering with the Rivian R1T, as it plans to also integrate its SOLIS solar cover and COR portable battery system in the future. Moreover, also in September, Worksport reported successful lab test results of its COR portable energy system as a range extender for Tesla EVs, including Model 3 and the Cybertruck, which opens further growth opportunities. 

While Worksport and EVgo do not play at a level Tesla does, at least for now, they are still prominent EV players, and such shorted companies tell interesting growth tales that sometimes go down in history for their potential to revolutionize industries.  

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This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.