Category: Investing (Page 2 of 19)

Mullen Announces New $25 Million Stock Buyback Program

July 6, 2023 / Frank Nez

Mullen Automotive (NASDAQ:MULN) announced a new $25 million stock buyback program on Thursday.

Shares rose up to $0.32 per share at the market open before falling back down to a quarter.

On Wednesday, MULN stock surged from $0.10 to $0.17, up more than +69% while continuing to rise after hours an additional +11%.

The company announced today that the Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program, pursuant to which the Company may, until Dec. 31, 2023, purchase up to $25 million in shares of its outstanding common stock.

The shares may be repurchased, from time to time, in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions depending upon market conditions and other factors, and in accordance with applicable regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).

The authorization of the stock buyback program does not obligate the Company to purchase any shares and may be terminated or amended by the Board at any time prior to its expiration date.

“We are initiating this buyback program as an attractive opportunity to deploy capital and return value to our shareholders,” said David Michery, CEO and chairman of Mullen Automotive.

My guess on Wednesday’s runup was either shorts were beginning to close or the company initiated an unannounced buyback.

Shareholders have sat on the sidelines waiting for the CEO to finally fight back in some way after what many believe the company to be a target for illegal ‘naked short selling’.

The company also provided shareholders with a new update on its illegal naked shorting investigation.

Mullen Automotive Will Continue to Investigate Illegal Naked Shorting Activities

The company announced on Wednesday that it has retained Christian Attar, formally known as Christian Levine Law Group, and in partnership with Warshaw, Burstein, LLP, to combat naked short selling activities.

Based on reports Mullen has received from ShareIntel, the Company believes it may have been the target of a market manipulation scheme involving illegal naked short selling of its common stock and has decided to investigate and expose any potential wrongdoing.

According to various publicly disclosed sources, Christian Attar, formally known as Christine Levine Law Group, in partnership with Warshaw Burstein, LLP, have successfully prosecuted and collected millions of dollars in aggregate damages on behalf of their clients from broker-dealers, market-makers, hedge funds, and asset-based lenders who have engaged in such market manipulation schemes.

“Since our announcement on April 28, we have been actively investigating naked short selling and we now have enough intel to have the law firm actively investigate and, where justified, take action against any market manipulators using naked short selling, spoofing or other illegal acts,” stated David Michery, CEO and chairman of Mullen Automotive, Inc.

Naked shorting is the illegal practice of short selling shares that have not been affirmatively determined to exist.

The predatorial practice allows short sellers to short a stock and bypass the natural laws of supply and demand.

Wes Christian says ‘naked shorting’ is a big worldwide problem and that regulators aren’t as much in tune with it as they should be.

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The EU Agrees on New Deal to Ban PFOF

June 30, 2023 / Frank Nez

The European Union (EU) has agreed on a new deal to ban PFOF, or Payment for Order Flow.

PFOF is the compensation a broker receives for routing trades for trade execution to a particular market maker.

The European Union said on Thursday that member states and the European Parliament have reached a deal on updating the bloc’s “MiFID” securities trading rules.

The EU has been reviewing its securities trading rules to reflect advances in trading technology and also the departure of Britain from the bloc, presenting new competition to EU markets, per Reuters.

“The agreement reached today imposes a general ban on ‘payment for order flow’ (PFOF), a practice through which brokers receive payments for forwarding client orders to certain trading platforms,” a statement from the EU member states’ council said.

Under the deal, member states that already allow PFOF will be exempt from the ban provided it is only offered to clients in that member state.

“However, this practice must be phased out by 30 June 2026,” the statement said.

The deal, which needs formal rubber-stamping from the full parliament and EU states, also sets up ‘consolidated tapes’ that would give investors a snapshot of stock and bond prices on markets to help find the best deals.

“Market data from all trading platforms will be included in consolidated tapes, which will aim to publish the information as close as possible to real time,” the statement said.

Will the U.S Ban PFOF?

As of right now, the SEC has stated that there is no plan to ban PFOF although the topic has been brought to the table.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler last year said there may be a conflict of interest for brokers and that too much power is concentrated in a handful of market makers.

The abusive power of PFOF was felt during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy of 2021 when retail orders were being dealt by market makers and hedge funds betting against AMC Entertainment and GameStop stock.

But Citadel and other Wall Street giants have pushed back against the idea of banning payment for order flow.

A spokesperson for Citadel Securities released the following statement to CNBC:

“It is important to recognize that the current market structure has resulted in tighter spreads, greater transparency, and meaningfully reduced costs for retail investors. We look forward to reviewing the proposals and working with the SEC and the industry towards our longstanding objective of further improving competition and transparency.”

“You need to be very deliberate on that approach,” Ken Bentsen, president and CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) said.

“We have been calling for a review of market structure for some time, but let’s be careful not to try to fix things that may not be broken,” he said. “The retail investor is getting a better deal than they ever have.”

Read: “The Game is Rigged” Says Ex-Citadel Data Scientist

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Mullen Announces First Ever Recorded Revenue of The Year

June 29, 2023 / Frank Nez

Mullen Automotive (NASDAQ:MULN) announced on Thursday its first ever recorded revenue of the year.

The company announced it has sold 22 EV cargo vans to the Randy Marion Automotive Group (RMA Group) for $308,000.

“The $308,000 is the company’s first recorded revenue and is being recognized in the quarter ending June 30, 2023.”

All vehicles are in que to be shipped, with the first vehicles shipping today, June 29, 2023, from Mullen’s Tunica, Mississippi, assembly plant to Randy Marion Automotive Group in North Carolina.

Randy Marion is the authorized distributor of Mullen’s commercial EVs in the U.S.

The Company currently is in process with six Campus EV Pilot Programs across four different industry categories including aviation, pharmaceutical, public utility and universities.

Further details on these programs are anticipated to be included in future announcements.

All Mullen commercial vehicles, including the Mullen EV Campus Cargo Van, Mullen Class 1 EV Cargo Van and the Mullen Class 3 EV Cab Chassis Truck will be produced at Mullen’s Tunica assembly plant.

The Campus EV Cargo Van is available now for purchase.

Start of production for the Class 3 EV Cab Chassis Truck will begin in July with first vehicle deliveries in August and September 2023.

MULN stock jumped up +5% Thursday morning on big volume; however, shares of the company are still down more than -98% this year-to-date.

Official Announcements from Mullen Automotive

“We continue to receive great interest from around the country for Mullen’s different commercial EVs and the campus van is proving to be a great fit with various different closed campus commercial applications,” said Brad Sigmon, vice president of RMA Fleet Operations.

The Mullen commercial team has been active across the country this past winter and spring, showcasing the Mullen Class 1 and Class 3 vehicles at various commercial and fleet events, including test drive opportunities at multiple locations.

The public will also have the opportunity to experience Mullen’s commercial vehicle lineup at the upcoming 2023 “Strikingly Different” U.S. tour, planned to start in August 2023.

The tour will feature several Mullen EVs, including the Mullen FIVE and Mullen FIVE RS crossovers, Mullen ONE commercial Class 1 van, Mullen THREE commercial Class 3 truck, Bollinger B1, B2 and B4 and the new Mullen GT sports car.

“These shipments are significant as they represent the first revenue recorded on our financial statement, reflected on the June 30, 2023, 10-Q,” said David Michery, CEO and chairman of Mullen Automotive, Inc.

This is certainly positive news and a great start for Mullen Automotive.

However, the company will require much larger reports if it’s to truly make an impact.

Shareholders are appalled by what’s happened to the company share price, something CEO David Michery has been heavily criticized for.

Is Mullen Automotive getting ready to make a comeback? Leave your thoughts in the comments section down below.

Latest MULN Stock News

Mullen Automotive announced on Tuesday that its Series D holders have now exercised their final $100 million investment option.

The expiring date for this contract was set for June 30, but has now provided Mullen Automotive with $100 million in additional funding, per the company’s report.

“The exercise of the option has resulted in additional funding to the Company of $100 million.

The Company now has more than $235 million in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet, recognizing that this amount is after the Company has expended $253 million-plus for two completed acquisitions that added valuable, unencumbered assets to the balance sheet for the majority ownership in Bollinger Motors and certain assets related to Electric Last Mile Solutions (“ELMS”).

With the exception of $7.3 million of outstanding debt, all Company-owned real estate and other assets are unencumbered.”

Mullen CEO David Michery says the company is in the best cash position it’s ever been in its history.

“We are in the best financial position in our Company’s history and remain fully committed and highly focused on producing, selling and delivering our vehicles to our customers prior to the end of 2023,” said David Michery, CEO and chairman of Mullen Automotive on Tuesday.

With over $235 million in cash and cash equivalents, it represents approximately 2 years of operating capital.

Shares of the company fell more than -18% on Tuesday morning after the announcement; something is certainly wrong here.

Read: Mullen Announces State of The Company in New Update

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Next Bridge Hydrocarbons Now Owns 100% of Orogrande Project

May 17, 2023 / Frank Nez

Next Bridge Hydrocarbons now owns 100% of working interest in the Orogrande Project.

Next Bridge will now fully control the development and reap 100% of the value and proceeds of the Orogrande Project once it is developed.

The company announced on Tuesday that it has closed the previously-announced transaction among certain subsidiaries of Next Bridge, Wolfbone Investments, LLC, McCabe Petroleum Corporation and Gregory McCabe, the sole owner of Wolfbone and MPC.

The transactions became effective on April 25, 2023 and the closing of the Merger occurred on May 11, 2023.

As a result of the Merger, Next Bridge now controls Wolfbone’s 22.6249% remaining rights to working interest in the oil and natural gas project the Company holds in the Orogrande Basin in West Texas in Hudspeth County, Texas (the “Orogrande Project”).

As consideration for the working interest, Next Bridge issued 56,297,638 shares of common stock to McCabe.

The Company also announced that it has entered into and closed the transactions described in six separate Contribution and Exchange Agreements to acquire the remaining 10.8751% working interest in Orogrande Project.

Next Bridge now operates its entire land position in the Orogrande Project with 100% working interest across approximately 134,000 contiguous block acres.

Under the various Contribution Agreements, the Company issued 27,060,637 shares of its common stock to each of the six separate working interest owners to acquire the remaining working interest in the Orogrande Project.

Official Statements

Commenting on the transaction, Clifton DuBose, Jr., Next Bridge’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are pleased to have closed the Wolfbone merger while successfully negotiating agreements with the other six working interest owners in the Orogrande Project.

The completion of all these separate transactions to acquire the remaining working interest in the Orogrande Project marks a significant milestone for Next Bridge as we now own 100% of our most valuable asset.

Next Bridge will now fully control our development and reap 100% of the value and proceeds of the Orogrande Project once it is developed.

We also note and appreciate the trust that Gregory McCabe and the other working interest owners have shown in us to develop the Orogrande Project in order to provide returns to all of our shareholders as we continue our drilling and operational plans.”

Next Bridge is an independent public reporting energy company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, exploitation and/or development of oil and natural gas properties in the United States.

Their primary focus has been the development of interests in an oil and gas project consisting of 134,000 contiguous gross acres they hold in the Orogrande Basin in West Texas in Hudspeth County, Texas.

Next Bridge is a private company and shares of common stock are not traded on a public stock exchange of any kind.

MMAT News and Updates

In April, Meta announced that it has priced an underwritten public offering of 83,333,334 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 83,333,334 shares of common stock at a combined public offering price of $0.30 per share and accompanying warrant.

META granted the underwriters a 30-day overallotment option to purchase up to an additional 12,500,000 shares of its common stock and/or warrants to purchase up to an additional 12,500,000 shares of common stock at the public offering price.

Each warrant is exercisable immediately at an exercise price of $0.375 per share and will expire five years following the date of issuance.

All of the securities are to be sold by META.

The gross proceeds of the offering are expected to be approximately $25 million before deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by META.

“META intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes, which include, but are not limited to: on-going development of our existing and future products, (such as our advanced materials NPORE® and NCORE™ for Li-ion battery applications, electro-optical devices, the expansion of our manufacturing facilities and capital equipment purchases), as well as general and administrative expenses.”

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Short Sellers Are Now Turning on One Another

May 12, 2023 / Frank Nez

Short sellers are now turning on one another.

Billionaire investor and activist short seller Carl Icahn is now being targeted by well-known short seller Hindenburg Research, per WSJ.

Icahn Enterprises, the publicly traded firm controlled by Mr. Icahn, was targeted by short seller Hindenburg Research early this month.

Carl Icahn disclosed that his investment company is under investigation by federal prosecutors and went on the attack against the short seller that likely spurred the inquiry, accusing it of “wantonly destroying property and harming innocent civilians.”

“Hindenburg Research, founded by Nathan Anderson, would be more aptly named Blitzkrieg Research given its tactics of wantonly destroying property and harming innocent civilians,” said a quote from Mr. Icahn in the company’s response to Hindenburg’s accusations.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York contacted Icahn Enterprises asking for information about the value of its assets, corporate governance, dividends and other topics, the firm said in a securities filing Wednesday.

Icahn Enterprises said in the filing that it is cooperating with the investigation and doesn’t believe it will have a significant impact on the business.

The company’s stock (NASDAQ:IEP) fell -15% on Wednesday and nearly -2% on Thursday.

Hindenburg Research alleged that Icahn was highly leveraged and relying on inflated valuations of its assets to trade at several times the value of its held assets.

“Confidence games never last forever,” Hindenburg’s report concluded.

“We expect Icahn Enterprises will be no different.”

Hindenburg Research Spots Short Opportunity in Icahn Enterprises

Hindenburg Research Carl Icahn — Market News Daily – Hindenburg Research Shorting Icahn Enterprises | Short Sellers Are Now Turning on One Another.

Hindenburg Research wrote down the value of one of the holdings that Hindenburg highlighted in its report as overvalued.

In its filings, Icahn acknowledged that its auto-parts division filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of January.

In March, Icahn reported that the auto-parts division at the end of the year was worth $381 million.

Icahn Enterprises said Wednesday it lost $270 million in the first quarter of 2023, compared with a profit of $323 million over the same period last year.

The company’s own short bets backfired, resulting in a drag on the company’s investment portfolio, which lost $443 million in the quarter.

Icahn reported other potential write-downs in its filing as well. The company marked the value of its real-estate portfolio at the end of the quarter as $457 million.

In a footnote, however, the company said that since the end of the quarter its tenant for a commercial high-rise property worth $218 million had defaulted on its now-terminated lease.

The company said it would consider taking an impairment charge in the second quarter.

On Wednesday, the company said that Icahn’s assets were booked using accepted valuation methodologies.

Hindenburg’s critiques, the company said, were fundamentally flawed and historic investments of the company were sold at a premium to book value.

Icahn reiterated that it would pay its dividend, a major component of the stock’s allure for individual investors who make up most of its public ownership, per WSJ.

Will More Short Sellers Turn on One Another?

Market News Daily - Short Sellers Are Now Turning on One Another | Hindenburg Research Carl Icahn — Market News Daily – Short Sellers Are Now Turning on One Another | Hindenburg Research Carl Icahn News and Updates.

For many months now, retail investors have prophesized that short sellers at some point would begin to turn on one another.

It was only a matter of time before the perfect storm brewed as we’re seeing today.

Bad short bets caused Icahn Enterprises to lose hundreds of millions of dollars this year and now it has become a target for other short sellers.

In 2022, hedge funds lost $208 billion with only very few ending the year profitable.

In February of this year, short sellers were down more than $81 billion as we saw a bull rally take off during the first quarter of 2023.

And as we transition from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2023, we are seeing banks face a crisis.

In March, banks lost $55 billion in one single day.

Now we have banks like JPMorgan urging the SEC to call for a ban on short selling of bank stocks.

With liquidity drying out, short sellers will depend on shorting one another to raise capital in today’s volatile economy.

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Category: Investing (Page 2 of 19)

Mullen Announces New $25 Million Stock Buyback Program

Mullen Automotive Will Continue to Investigate Illegal Naked Shorting Activities

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The EU Agrees on New Deal to Ban PFOF

Will the U.S Ban PFOF?

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Mullen Announces First Ever Recorded Revenue of The Year

Official Announcements from Mullen Automotive

Latest MULN Stock News

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Next Bridge Hydrocarbons Now Owns 100% of Orogrande Project

Official Statements

MMAT News and Updates

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Short Sellers Are Now Turning on One Another

Hindenburg Research Spots Short Opportunity in Icahn Enterprises

Will More Short Sellers Turn on One Another?

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