The reaction to third-quarter results from car-related companies has been awful. Reactions to industrial numbers, which are being hit by related problems, aren’t all that much better.
Through Tuesday trading, ON Semi stock was down 27% over the past month. Ford and GM shares were down about 16% and 8%, respectively. Shares of charging company ChargePoint , which didn’t disclose any news, are off 31% over that span. Those aren’t isolated examples. Rockwell Automation and Caterpillar shares both dropped after earnings. Rockwell stock has fallen about 12% over the past month, while Cat stock was off about 13%.
Nearshoring, or bringing back manufacturing to the U.S., is partly driven by new car plants, battery plants, and other investments in vehicle electrification and renewable power. It appears as if investors are now getting worried that EV-related weakness will start to show up in nonautomotive companies’ business backlogs.
Richardson was talking about renewable projects, but all big capital outlays requiring financing are at risk, be they related to hydrogen, EV batteries, or something else.