Vroom, Lockheed Martin, Fisker: Trending Tickers

Online car retailer Vroom (VRM) shares plunge on news it will cut 90% of its workforce and shut down its e-commerce business.

Lockheed Martin (LMT) shares dip on warnings its 2024 sales could fall below expectations. The defense and aerospace contractor posted a fourth-quarter earnings beat.

Lastly, Fisker (FSR) states its unsold EVs from 2023 are expected to be delivered by the end of the first quarter.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: All right. Let's talk about some of these trending tickers here on "Yahoo Finance" today. We got to start it off the 10:00 AM hour, at least, with Vroom because shares are falling. Look at that, off just about 40%. The stock now, just about $0.31 a share. The move lower coming after the used car retailer said it is slashing 800 jobs from its workforce, winding down its e-commerce business, not necessarily a massive surprise given the fact that this business has been struggling now for quite some time.

But again, it is in a very tough space. It's also going up against Carvana, one of its big competitors in there. The used car business, especially in terms of what Vroom has been seeing demand-wise, hasn't exactly lived up to the Street's expectations, to say the least. And once again, we're seeing Vroom forced to make some of these tough decisions.

BRAD SMITH: Down 68% over the past year, 52-week scale there. And ultimately, they're talking about this value maximization plan. And this was put forward by the Board of Directors. And essentially, planning to sell its current used vehicle inventory through wholesale channels, halting purchases of additional vehicles here as well. And then that reduction in workforce that you mentioned too, part of this plan.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, certainly. And Vroom also went on to say that it is obviously disappointed that it was unable to raise the necessary capital that it needed at this point. So, again, winding down those operations. And you got to also think just what this could mean for some competitors, as well.

BRAD SMITH: Absolutely. We're also tracking Lockheed Martin shares on the move to the downside this morning. While the defense firm did post better than expected profit and sales numbers, the Lockheed Martin company warning its 2024 could fall below expectations there. You're taking a look at shares down by about 1.5% And we were even scratching our heads just a little bit here, as we're looking across some of the figures.

One thing that did jump out to me, though, as you go segment by segment for this company, there was really only one segment that had actually seen year-over-year improvement in that, even as you're looking through the operating results on a segment basis, should be a little bit of a warning sign, at least, for right now here. And so, particularly, as you think about the space division, that was the only segment that actually saw an increase year-over-year in the quarter. And I think that is something that investors perhaps giving a little bit of weight to here today.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, exactly. And JP Morgan weighing in on this release here saying that the 2024 margin guide coming in lower than expected is why we're seeing some of that pressure here on shares this morning, saying, it came in below the midpoint. Obviously, a concerning sign here for investors that are closely following a name like this.

Also, that the free cash flow guide is down slightly year-over-year. So, again, putting some pressure on this name. And when we were taking a look at defense stocks, it's been a closely tracked stock over the last several months, a lot of that given the fact that we have seen a rise, an escalation in some of those geopolitical tensions. So we did see a bit of an uptick in some orders, as a result of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, as a result of unrest in the Middle East.

So, again, what that then means, how that's reflected in future earnings in terms of demand, something that the Street wants to keep an eye on.

BRAD SMITH: Yeah. That's right. And then one more name that we're tracking here this morning. This was an interesting one to see pop up on our radar. Fisker popping today after announcing that it will sell all 5,000 of its unsold vehicles made last year by the end of its first quarter. The EV startup also saying its dealer partner model is gaining traction with over 100 dealers in the US, Canada, and Europe, expressing interest here.

So the stock actually was moving up by about 11% earlier. Right now, still holding onto gains of about 2% here. So an interesting move there paring some of those gains, with, at least, a bit of a pullback here intraday. But what caught my attention here was really that dealer model because you think about how Tesla had really changed the game for how cars could be sold. And really, putting it on their own model to say, hey, we can sell through online. Or we can sell a vehicle in a mall. We'll turn that upside down.

And a lot of other car manufacturers, they said, OK, well, let's give this a shot as well. Even for some of the newer ones out there like a Fisker, who were looking to make sure that they could ramp up delivery, production. They are now leaning further into that dealership model, at least, in order to perhaps give them a little bit more tentacles into getting some of those vehicles out there and into the market.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah. Certainly some upbeat commentary here in terms of this release, what we could see from Fisker over the coming months. The company also just providing some updates. We will get a better idea when we get those delivery numbers update here in February.

But Fisker saying it does expect to sell most of its vehicles in inventory before the end of the first quarter. Also, went on to say that it sees generating first half cash from sale of 2023 production vehicles here. So, obviously, a bullish sign here for the company. They also went on to make some comments about the Ocean vehicle saying that it expects to hire cash flow from their Oceans in early 2024. So all that said, it set up to be a positive sign here for investors, if you want to take a look at that.