What happened
Shares of electric commercial-vehicle maker Workhorse Group (WKHS -5.57%) were moving higher on Friday, after a Wall Street analyst issued a bullish note and raised his price target for the company's shares.
As of 1 p.m. EDT, Workhorse's shares were up about 9.2% from Thursday's closing price.
So what
In a note on Friday morning, BTIG analyst Gregory Lewis raised his price target on Workhorse's shares to $10 from $6 and reiterated his buy rating on the stock.
Lewis said that Workhorse appears to be on track to getting final approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation for its C-Series commercial vans sometime between now and August. While he notes that's later than the second-quarter approval that Workhorse had targeted, he said the "bigger picture" is that the truck will be approved for sale soon.
Workhorse's new C-Series electric delivery vans are still on track for launch later this year, according to a new analyst report. Image source: Workhorse Group.
Workhorse's C-Series vans are lightweight battery-electric delivery vehicles designed for "last mile" service, delivering packages or cargo to final destinations. The vans will be offered in two sizes, with 650 or 1000 cubic feet of cargo capacity, and with choice of 35 kilowatt-hour (kWh) or 70 kWh battery packs.
With the larger battery pack, the vans will have a range of about 100 miles when fully loaded.
Now what
Lewis expects the C-Series vans to be a "springboard" to drive new fleet orders once they're approved for U.S. sale. The company said in May that it expects to build and deliver between 300 and 400 vehicles in 2020, and to begin sales of the C-Series vans through its partnership with Ryder System (R 1.41%) by the end of the year.
Auto investors watching the electric commercial-vehicles space should set their expectations accordingly.
