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General Motors' (GM) BrightDrop Supplies 150 E-Vans to FedEx

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General Motors (GM - Free Report) recently announced that its technology startup, BrightDrop, has delivered its first 150 electric delivery vehicles to FedEx throughout Southern California, out of a total order of 2,500 units. The first five vans had already been delivered in December 2021.

All the 150 vehicles delivered comprise the larger Zevo 600 model, formerly known as the EV600. It is designed for last-mile deliveries and is powered by GM’s Ultium Platform. This marks an important milestone for FedEx as it plans to transform its entire parcel pickup and delivery (PUD) fleet to all-electric and achieve zero-tailpipe emissions by 2040. Also, this is part of a larger agreement, according to which FedEx will add a total of 2,500 BrightDrop Zevo 600 electric delivery vans across its operations over the next few years.

As pre-requisites of the new fleet, FedEx is developing charging infrastructure across its network of facilities and have already installed more than 500 charging stations across California. It is also investing to upscale on-site generation and procurement of renewable energy in its facilities. The company is optimistic that it has set an example of a sustainable delivery chain.

In another development, General Motors has decided to suspend production of its all-electric pickup, Hummer EV, at the Factory Zero facility in Michigan for four weeks to modify and increase the unit’s production capacity. Per media sources, the downtime will stretch from Jun 27 to Jul 22. The company noted that the upgrades were taking place earlier than the scheduled date, and affected employees have already been notified.

GM delivered a mere 99 of the Hummer EV Edition 1 pickups during the first quarter of 2022. However, it has more than 77,500 reservations in hand and will be bolstering its output throughout the year to cope with the demand.

The company was forced to hike prices of the premium EV last week to combat increased supply chain costs. The base prices of the Hummer EV pickup and future SUV will be raised by $6,250. However, for orders placed before Jul 18, the price would be the original one.

The plant aims to launch the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra Denali EV pickups next year together with an autonomous van, the Origin, for its self-driving ride-share company, Cruise.

Shares of GM have lost 45.7% over the past year compared with its industry’s 23.6% decline.

Zacks Investment Research
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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

GM carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), currently.

Some better-ranked players in the auto space are Wabash National Corporation (WNC - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Fox Factory Holdings (FOXF - Free Report) and Standard Motor Products (SMP - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) currently. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Wabash National has an expected earnings growth rate of 239.3% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has remained constant in the past 30 days.

Wabash National’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one. WNC pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 51.26%, on average. The stock has declined 12.4% over the past year.

Fox Factory has an expected earnings growth rate of 14.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has remained constant in the past 30 days.

Fox Factory’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters. FOXF pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.18%, on average. The stock has declined 49.1% over the past year.

Standard Motor has an expected earnings growth rate of 5.2% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised around 3.1% upward in the past 30 days.

Standard Motor’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters. SMP pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 40.34%, on average. The stock has declined 3.1% over the past year.

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