By Sam Boughedda
Evgo Inc (NASDAQ:EVGO) shares plunged Wednesday after short-seller Fuzzy Panda Research released a short report on the company claiming it is broken while also stating EVGO’s controlling shareholder is connected to Jeffrey Epstein.
EVgo shares are down 13.8% at the time of writing.
In a lengthy and scathing report, Fuzzy Panda said: "EVGO is a mediocre EV charging company that we believe is substantially overvalued. Not only are a significant number of their EV chargers broken, but they also have triple-digit negative operating profit margins which have gotten even worse."
They added that a UC Berkley study revealed 25.5% of EVGO’s chargers are broken or out of service and the company has "questionable partnerships – including with ELMS who recently filed for bankruptcy."
Regarding the claims of links to convicted sex offender Epstein, Fuzzy Panda said they "discovered that EVGO’s controlling shareholder, LS Power, is connected to Jeffrey Epstein," providing a further explanation at the end of the report.
Other claims made by Fuzzy Panda include EVgo's operating margins declining, charger utilization declining by 21% from 2019 to 2021, a key patent recently being denied, and EVGO only spending $2 million per year on R&D.