Former executive of German automaker Opel will take over as Nikola's CEO in January
Nikola Corp (NASDAQ:NKLA) is struggling for direction today, last seen down 0.4% at $6.94 at last check, after the electric vehicle (EV) name announced Michael Lohscheller, who was previously the chief executive officer of German automaker Opel, will take over as its new CEO when Mark Russell retires on Jan. 1, 2023.
The shares surged to their highest level since April earlier this week, but fell just short of the $9.20 level. The equity continues to trade above the 100-day moving average, however, after conquering the trendline earlier this month. Year-to-date, NKLA remains down 29.8%.
Shorts have been piling on the EV stock of late. In fact, short interest is up 4.7% in the last two reporting periods, and the 87.16 million shares sold short make up a whopping 35.2% of the equity's available float, or more than one week's worth of pent-up buying power.
Meanwhile, the options pits are bullish. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock sports a 50-day call/put open interest ratio of 2.93, which ranks higher than 87% of readings from the past year. This means long calls have been getting picked up at a much faster-than-usual clip.