By Senad Karaahmetovic
A BTIG analyst upgraded Nikola Corp (NASDAQ:NKLA) shares to Buy from Neutral with a $12 per share price target.
The new price target implies an upside potential of nearly 140% given yesterday’s closing price of $5.03.
The analyst sees the electric truck maker “well positioned to benefit from increasing demand to decarbonize the Class 8 truck market.” Nikola is planning to roll out its fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) in 2023 while it continues to work on its H2 fueling infrastructure network in North America.
Looking at the bigger picture, the analyst expects hydrogen to benefit from the ongoing energy crisis (mostly in Europe) and higher commodity prices. These factors are likely to “help pull forward wider scale adoption of hydrogen in Europe and Asia.”
“Given the inability of electricity to decarbonize heavy industries and long haul transportation we expect hydrogen to increase its share of the global energy mix over the next few decades. The slope of that acceleration will be driven by economics and government support,” he wrote in a client note.
In the U.S., he sees a more competitive playing field for green hydrogen on the back of the higher natural gas prices.