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I have no insider info but leaning to believe that at least Hindenburg Research's report is partially correct based on a few things: 1. I listened to Nikola fo

I have no insider info but leaning to believe that at least Hindenburg Research's report is partially correct based on a few things: 1. I listened to Nikola founder Trevor's interview on Jason Calacanis's podcast, and was sold on the advantage of Hydrogen fuel cell over battery for long haul trucks. Such a huge market! And then Trevor said Nikola, a 400 people company, are also working on the an electric pickup called Badger to be more consumer facing. This makes no biz sense to me at all and I realized they are probably just chasing the trend. 2 At the time Nikola doing the first Earnings call ever, Trevor was on a 6-day vacation in the Bahamas, while bragging about having a $13 Million airplane. Trevor is no Elon. No matter how much you hate Elon, he works his butt off, and that gets my respect automatically. 3 I understand Nikola want to protect their trade secrets and go through SEC first, but in their press release [2] they have shown nothing to prove that Hindenburg Research's report is wrong. [1] https://thisweekinstartups.com/e1090-nikola-founder-trevor-milton-on-competing-with-tesla-hydrogen-over-battery-going-public-as-a-pre-revenue-company-more/ https://thisweekinstartups.com/e1090-nikola-founder-trevor-m... [2] https://nikolamotor.com/press_releases/nikola-refutes-allegations-95 https://nikolamotor.com/press_releases/nikola-refutes-allega...

bfieidhbrjr 6y ago
The SEC thing is a smokescreen. There is no reason to go to or via the SEC for their rebuttal, if anything they're just trying to get ahead of the PR nightmare of the SEC going to them. Them staying silent and sending info to the SEC is a big red flag, but to the lay investor it looks good, which is why they did it.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
jdmichal 6y ago
I also find the specific wording of the counter interesting. They don't actually say anything is untrue, but instead use terms like "misleading information", "salacious accusations", and "not accurate". So I have a really hard time believing that the report is not onto something, because it definitely sounds like legal was consulted on the wording. It is very specifically phrased to, say, allow the reported facts to be true but the interpretation of the facts to be wrong.
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  I have a strong suspicion "not accurate" probably means stuff like "oh it was a 2.8% grade, not 3%".
  - liability 6y ago
    They might try to claim "not a pusher" wasn't a lie because they pulled it instead.
  - jdmichal 6y ago
    Or, apparently, a -3% grade the next day!
llboston 6y ago
Another thing, Nikola’s entire quarterly revenue of $36k was from solar installation for Trevor himself, and they are not a solar company . As a founder myself, I hate to doubt any other founders, but this isn't something an honest founder would do.

bfieidhbrjr 6y ago

The SEC thing is a smokescreen. There is no reason to go to or via the SEC for their rebuttal, if anything they're just trying to get ahead of the PR nightmare of the SEC going to them. Them staying silent and sending info to the SEC is a big red flag, but to the lay investor it looks good, which is why they did it.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

jdmichal 6y ago

I also find the specific wording of the counter interesting. They don't actually say anything is untrue, but instead use terms like "misleading information", "salacious accusations", and "not accurate". So I have a really hard time believing that the report is not onto something, because it definitely sounds like legal was consulted on the wording. It is very specifically phrased to, say, allow the reported facts to be true but the interpretation of the facts to be wrong.

ceejayoz 6y ago
I have a strong suspicion "not accurate" probably means stuff like "oh it was a 2.8% grade, not 3%".
- liability 6y ago
  They might try to claim "not a pusher" wasn't a lie because they pulled it instead.
- jdmichal 6y ago
  Or, apparently, a -3% grade the next day!

llboston 6y ago

Another thing, Nikola’s entire quarterly revenue of $36k was from solar installation for Trevor himself, and they are not a solar company . As a founder myself, I hate to doubt any other founders, but this isn't something an honest founder would do.