EV Industry Developments Have Us Charged Up About This Position

Even though the stock market has reversed gears today, there continues to be confirmation for our position in electric vehicle-charging company ChargePoint Holdings (CHPT) .

Today the Department of Transportation approved EV infrastructure development plans for all 50 states. All states now have access to all FY22 and FY23 National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program funding that totals more than $1.5 billion. As a  reminder, that program will help build EV chargers covering approximately 75,000 miles of highway across the country and has earmarked $5 billion to spend over the coming five years as part of the Biden Infrastructure Law. There is also the $2.5 billion Discretionary Grant Program for Charging and Fueling Infrastructure, which aims to ensure charger deployment meets the Biden administration’s priorities, including equity commitments to increase EV charging access in rural, underserved, and overburdened communities.

While today’s development is no doubt a positive for our thesis behind CHPT shares, the next hurdle is the approval of plans to tap these funds — although what we see points to favorable 2023 comparisons for ChargePoint’s business. The Federal Highway Administration has a website that will list approved plans for 2022/2023 EV funding. We’ll be reviewing this list periodically and will share updates with Action Alerts PLUS members.

Members know we also watch the demand side of the EV-charging-station equation. We are seeing more auto companies transition to EVs with some picking up considerable pace. We are also seeing other partnerships emerge that suggest those transitions are poised to accelerate while other efforts drive demand for EV charging stations.

Stellantis (STLA) and Uber (UBER) are working together with Free2Move to tackle the French electric vehicle market. Free2Move would enable Uber to transform 50% of its fleet in France to electric models. Meanwhile Aurora Mobile (JG) announced a strategic agreement with Chinese EV maker BYD Company (BYDDY)  , which will allow BYD to expand its EV business in Europe using Aurora’s overseas messaging cloud solution.

While these two latest developments are in Europe, remember that Europe is one of ChargePoint’s growth initiatives over the longer term. Exiting the July quarter, the U.S. accounted for 80% of ChargePoint’s revenue stream.

The developments today combined with the upside potential to our $21 price target from current levels leads us to upgrade CHPT to a One rating from Two.