Yahoo Finance Shell (SHEL) Makes Another Splash in the EV Charging Market
A unit of Shell plc SHEL has agreed to purchase an electric vehicle (EV) charging company Volta Inc. VLTA, for $169 million in cash. The acquisition is another pointer to the growing trend among major energy companies toward investments in the EV infrastructure space as demand for such vehicles continues to grow.
Per the deal, the London-headquartered energy major will pay 86 cents for each of Volta’s outstanding class A common stock. At Volta’s Tuesday’s closing stock price of 72.70 cents, the transaction values the company’s shares at an 18% premium.
Volta, which went public in 2021, primarily sets up charging points in retail parking lots with high traffic (shopping malls, grocery stores etc.) and provides free electricity to EV drivers. The company operates 3,050 EV chargers in the United States and Europe, and gets paid in the form of ads displays on chargers. But of late, it has been struggling with lack of cash and has seen its share price languish below $1 in the past few months. So precarious is the state of cash that the buyout agreement with Shell entails loans to Volta to see it through the closure of the deal, expected by June 30.
For Shell, the Volta deal is yet another step in its endeavor to diversify from oil and invest in green energy management. Europe’s largest oil company previously bought Greenlots — another company involved in EV charging and management — in 2019 and ubitricity — U.K.'s largest EV charging network — in 2021.
This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company, which consolidated its dual headquarters in London over The Hague and became a single UK entity last year, is slated to release fourth-quarter 2022 results on Feb 2. The current Zacks Consensus Estimate for Shell’s to-be-reported quarter is a profit of $2.12 per share.
Key Energy Picks
Meanwhile, investors interested in the energy sector might look at operators like Murphy USA MUSA and Helmerich & Payne HP. Both the companies has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Murphy USA: Over the past 60 days, this El Dorado, AR-based Murphy USA has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 improve 4%. MUSA, which surpassed third-quarter bottom-line estimates by 18.7%, is valued at around $6.1 billion.
Murphy USA has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 51%, on average. MUSA has seen its shares gain 35.9% in a year.
Helmerich & Payne: Helmerich & Payne is valued at some $5.3 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HP’s fiscal 2023 earnings has been revised 16.1% upward over the past 60 days.
Helmerich & Payne, headquartered in Tulsa, OK, has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 51%, on average 124.2%. HP shares have surged 64.9% in a year.
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Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (HP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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Volta Inc. (VLTA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (SHEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
