Joby Reports a Profit From No Sales. The Stock Is Soaring.

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Electric air taxi maker

Joby Aviation

managed to produce a profit in the fourth quarter even though it doesn’t have any sales just yet. Shares were rising sharply Friday, but the jump has nothing to do with the earnings surprise.

Joby (ticker: JOBY) stock was up 18.6% on Friday to $6.32. The

S&P 500
and

Dow Jones Industrial Average
were both rose about 0.3%.

The company reported net income of about $5 million. which translates into profit of 1 cent a share. Joby generated no sales. Operating expenses totaled about $77 million in the quarter. Those were offset by gains from the changing value of stock warrants and some income tax benefits.

Earnings, even a surprise profit, don’t matter all that much for a pre-revenue company though. Investors are more interested in things such as production and plane certification.

On that front, Joby said it has entered the implementation phase of its aircraft type certification program with manufacturing conformity testing underway. The company also completed its first systems and compliance reviews with the Federal Aviation Administration. That’s technical detail, but it means the company is making progress.

Joby completed its 125,000-square-foot manufacturing space earlier this year, and began producing “production intent” aircraft in its pilot manufacturing facility.

Joby plans to launch commercial passenger service in 2024 and will be working on regulator authorization for the coming couple of years.

Looking ahead, the company expects to use about $350 million in cash during 2022. Joby ended the quarter with about $1.3 billion in cash on its balance sheet.

Coming into Friday trading, Joby stock has fallen about 27% year to date and is down about 84% from its 52-week high in August of more than $14 a share.

Rising interest rates and inflation have sapped some investor enthusiasm for more speculative stocks. The

Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived ETF

(SPAK) is down about 34% year to date.

Joby closed its SPAC merger in August 2021. The fourth quarter of 2021 was Joby’s first full quarter as a publicly traded entity.

Write to Al Root at [email protected]