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Hey everyone, I posted about AMPX just 8 days ago and I already have a lot to cover. This stock has been very active since then and a lot went down, good and bad.
The Good News
On May 19^(th), AMPX announced a partnership with Matternet to advance drone delivery. If you read my first post, you know the drone and aviation angle is exactly why I am bullish here, so this felt like a direct conformation of my thesis. Matternet is one of the leading companies in autonomous drone delivery and is working in places like the US and Switzerland, so this is not a small name. This partnership is focused on improving both the performance and the economics of aerial delivery. Basically, they want to make drones fly farther and cost less to operate. Batteries are the key to both. This deal is exactly what I was hoping to see, and it shows that some serious companies in the drone space are choosing AMPX over its competition.
The Bad News--Short Seller Report
On May 20th, a firm called Manatee research posted a short seller report making some serious sounding allegations--exaggerated orders, shady manufacturing, questionable accounting. The stock dropped a bit, and a fraud investigation was opened. Now what do i think? First, I was genuinely concerned, but after actually reading through the repot and the counter arguments, I think it is a lot less scary than the headlines are making it seem. I also want to mention that short sellers make money when a stock goes down, so they seem to highly exaggerate on things, They post negative news in order to make money. In the short seller's report, they state that at least $29 million in LEV orders appear to be a "hoax". Amprius said on their earnings call that they are devceloping a custom cell for that customer, which explains whyu the spec was not in their catalog. Also, the insider selling tha was mentioned is mostly just their 70 year old fouinder cashing out after stepping down, which is pretty normal. I would like to add that AMPX just upgraded their auditor to Deloitte, whichis not something a company hiding bad numbers would tend to do.
My Take
I definitely want to let people know that there are big, REAL, risks with any high growth pre-prop hit company, but most of the specific allegations fall apart once you do some digging. I'm still holding and believe in the long term with this company. Hopefully, the short report falls apart soon or at least gets adressed. Im just praying that the allegations were false or that they were very exaggerated. Oh, I also bought more stock a bit after my first post on the dip. Just wanted to be transparent on my trades. Anyways, this is not financial advice, just a teen sharing his investing journey. Good luck to you all, and good luck to AMPX. Thanks for reading my post. :)
Position: Long AMPX, bought in at \~$4.50 around 2 years ago, added more last week at \~$15.50, currently holding.