As a global leader in micro-mobility services, Helbiz, Inc. (NASDAQ: HLBZ) offers an impressive fleet of vehicles including e-scooters, e-bicycles, and e-mopeds. Although the company has substantial growth potential in its niche, HLBZ stock is trending lately thanks to the company’s stance on naked short selling. Considering the company’s plans to issue a digital dividend to each shareholder, HLBZ stock could run on more news regarding this dividend as it would confirm the company’s shareholder base. In light of these efforts to combat naked short selling, HLBZ stock could be one to watch closely over the coming weeks for more updates.
HLBZ Stock News
Looking to offer sustainable, cheap, and reliable micro-mobility solutions, HLBZ offers its fleet of electric vehicles which can be rented for a limited amount of time. Through this business model, HLBZ has the potential to capitalize on the growing demand for micro-mobility solutions in Europe and the US. With this in mind, the majority of HLBZ’s operations are in Italy. Meanwhile, the company has been growing its presence in the US to capitalize on its larger market in its pursuit of profitability.
At the core of its growth efforts in the US, HLBZ acquired Wheels Labs, Inc. to help accelerate its growth in this lucrative market. By acquiring Wheels, HLBZ is now able to expand its presence into new US markets – including the Los Angeles market where Wheels is the only operator to serve every neighborhood. With that in mind, HLBZ is well-positioned to capitalize on Wheels’ wide user base of more than 5 million users – which could help the company achieve substantial financial growth in the future.
Meanwhile, this acquisition provides HLBZ with access to Wheels’ proprietary technology and IP including the first shareable helmet system. At the same time, HLBZ could benefit from Wheels’ contracts serving B2B partners and universities. In light of this acquisition’s potential benefits for the company, HLBZ anticipates posting a positive gross profit margin this year and achieving operating income by 2024. Based on this, HLBZ stock could be a bargain considering its considerably cheap PPS.
As the company is looking to achieve these milestones, Wheels launched pre-orders for its Wheels One vehicle – marking the first time any of its vehicles have been available for sale. Featuring advanced technology and capabilities, Wheels One has been witnessing strong demand thanks to its innovative technology. With this in mind, Wheels One’s pre-order was a major success as the company received more than 1300 pre-orders – amounting to more than $2.2 million in sales. Considering that success, HLBZ intends to re-open pre-orders by the end of next week. As a result, HLBZ stock could be poised to run once pre-orders are re-opened thanks to the potential sales the company could further add. With initial deliveries scheduled by the end of Q2, HLBZ stock is shaping up to be one to hold onto this year.
Although the company’s business could be attractive to investors, HLBZ is gaining more interest from retail investors thanks to the growing trend of companies combatting illegal naked short selling. After Genius Group Limited (NYSE American: GNS) announced its investigation into illegal naked short selling activity, HLBZ has been one of the first companies to take a similar stance since this illegal tactic may be the reason for the stock’s beaten-down PPS. For this reason, HLBZ engaged ShareIntel – Shareholder Intelligence Services, LLC to help the company investigate the naked short selling activity witnessed by its stock.
To facilitate this investigation, HLBZ is utilizing ShareIntel’s patented process to analyze repository data from reporting entities, broker-dealers, and shareholders. In this way, ShareIntel can track shareholder ownership, identify unusual trading activities, and deploy corrective action steps to combat such activity. Based on this, HLBZ could find reporting anomalies among market makers, banks, broker-dealers, and clearing firms – allowing the company to prevent such activity from occurring. In light of the company’s interest to protect its shareholders’ value, HLBZ stock could be poised to run over the coming weeks in anticipation of its investigation’s results.
*Updated February 8th, 2023
Continuing with its efforts to combat naked short selling, HLBZ announced plans to issue digital dividend coupons to each shareholder. These coupons will provide shareholders with discounts and benefits including micro-mobility, ride-sharing, car rentals, food delivery, and early access to purchasing the Wheels One. In addition to rewarding shareholders, this dividend allows HLBZ to track the number of its shares and better understand its shareholder base. In this way, HLBZ would be able to discover naked short selling activity which would force these short sellers to cover their positions. In light of this plan, HLBZ stock could be poised to run soon with more updates regarding this dividend.
In addition to combatting naked short selling, HLBZ is constantly working to improve its business and integrate new technologies. With this in mind, HLBZ is incorporating ChatGPT into multiple departments of the company. By utilizing this advanced AI technology, HLBZ would be able to improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency, as well as reduce operating costs. Based on this, HLBZ could be set to post improved profit margins with more adoption of AI technology.
Meanwhile, HLBZ launched the second round of pre-orders for the Wheels One following its successful first round of pre-orders. After generating commitments for more than $2.2 million in future sales, this second round of pre-orders will include a limited stock of 3000 vehicles for potential future sales of more than $5 million. Since these pre-ordered vehicles are scheduled to be shipped to customers by Q3, HLBZ could be poised for a major revenue boost this year.
As the company is not in compliance with the NASDAQ listing rules, HLBZ was granted an extension until March 31 to achieve a $1 bid price for 10 consecutive business days. If the company regains compliance, HLBZ expects to be granted a further extension until June 6 to meet the NASDAQ’s annual meeting requirement. With this in mind, HLBZ plans to hold a combined annual meeting for the fiscal years 2021 and 2022 to regain compliance with NASDAQ rules.
Looking to regain compliance, HLBZ intends to hold a special meeting to seek approval for a reverse split to meet the NASDAQ’s $1 minimum bid price requirement. However, HLBZ intends to effect the reverse split as a last option to regain compliance. In that way, HLBZ could abandon the reverse split if it regains compliance by maintaining a closing bid price of $1 for 10 consecutive days. As the company’s continued listing on NASDAQ is pivotal for its future growth plans, regaining compliance with the NASDAQ requirements could send HLBZ stock on a major run.
Although HLBZ has major long-term potential, investors should be wary of the company’s dilution. On that note, HLBZ signed a new standby equity purchase agreement with Yorkville Advisors Global LP to raise up to $20 million through the sale of its common shares. While this funding could allow HLBZ to pursue additional growth opportunities, this significant dilution could have a negative impact on shareholders’ value. For this reason, HLBZ stock could witness a strong movement downward as more shares hit the market.
HLBZ Stock Financials
In Q3, HLBZ reported a steep decline in assets to $26.5 million compared to $53.6 million at the beginning of the year. This decline is mainly the result of the company’s cash balance decreasing from $21.1 million to only $3.3 million. Moreover, Liabilities increased from $61.4 million to $68.1 million. As for revenues, the company reported $3.6 million compared to $4.7 million a year ago. At the same time, HLBZ continued to post a negative gross profit since the company remains in its early growth stages. Meanwhile, operating costs increased from $24.3 million in the same year-ago period to $26.5 million. Despite this, HLBZ reported a narrower net loss of $24.5 million compared to $28.3 million a year ago. While these numbers are underwhelming, HLBZ could report significant improvement in Q4 thanks to its acquisition of Wheels.
Media Sentiment
@stockplaymaker1 is watching HLBZ stock for more AI integrations.
Technical Analysis
HLBZ stock is currently trading at $.2144 and has supports near .1687 and .1107. Meanwhile, the stock shows resistances near .2352, .3297, and .5490. Despite gaining investors’ attention due to combatting naked short selling, HLBZ stock has been trending downwards since announcing the SEPA with Yorkville. Despite this dilution, HLBZ could run in the near term as more updates regarding the digital dividend are released. With HLBZ recently breaking through its support, the stock could further drop to retest its 200 MA support. If this support holds, investors could find a good entry on retests of the 200 MA. However, if the stock breaks through the 200 MA support, HLBZ could drop to fill the gap near $.12 – which could be an attractive entry point for long-term investors.
Following HLBZ’s recent run past $.5, accumulation has been trending downwards which could be attributed to the company’s dilution plans. Similarly, the MACD is bearish to the downside. The RSI cooled down from 58 to 33 indicating that HLBZ stock is oversold. In light of these indicators, investors could wait for HLBZ to retest its 200 MA support before making a buy decision. HLBZ has an OS of 241.8 million and a float of 207.5 million.
HLBZ Stock Forecast
Given the growing interest in companies combatting naked short selling, HLBZ stock appears to be at the forefront to benefit from this momentum. While the stock cooled down from its recent impressive run, HLBZ has the potential to replicate this run in the near future if the company’s investigation shows evidence of naked short selling activity. With the company planning to issue a digital dividend to each shareholder, HLBZ appears to be on the right track to confirm its shareholder base. Considering the bullish sentiment surrounding this dividend, HLBZ stock could soar on more updates regarding this matter.
As for the long-term, HLBZ could be an intriguing investment thanks to its reputation as a global leader in its niche. Considering its acquisition of Wheels, HLBZ could be on the right track to grow revenues and achieve profitability thanks to Wheels’ wide user base of more than 5 million and its advanced technologies. With the Wheels One already highly demanded as shown by the success of its first round of pre-orders, HLBZ could be on track to witness a successful second round of pre-orders. In that way, HLBZ could be well-positioned for financial growth this year as the pre-ordered vehicles are set to be delivered by Q4.
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