Joby Aviation Stock Slides Premarket After Firm Prices Public Offering: Retail Gets Cautious

Shares of Joby Aviation ($JOBY), a firm that develops electric air taxis for commercial passenger service, fell over 10% in Friday’s pre-market session as of 6:49 a.m. ET after the firm announced the pricing of its public offering.

The firm’s underwritten public offering of 40 million shares were priced at $5.05 apiece, over 16% lower than Thursday’s closing price of $6.04.

Joby said the gross proceeds from the offering, before considering underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses, are expected to be $202 million.

The firm said it “currently” intends to use the net proceeds, together with its existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, to fund its certification and manufacturing efforts, prepare for commercial operations and for general working capital and other general corporate purposes.

The company has granted its underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional six million shares of common stock at the public offering price, minus underwriting discounts and commissions.

Following the announcement, retail sentiment on Stocktwits inched lower into the ‘neutral’ territory (51/100) from the ‘bullish’ zone a day ago, accompanied by ‘high’ message volume.

Recently, Joby had announced that its existing investor Toyota will invest an additional $500 million to support the certification and commercial production of its electric air taxi.

The investment will bring Toyota Motor Corporation's total investment in Joby to $894 million. Joby said it will be made in the form of cash for common stock, with the first tranche targeted to close later this year and the second in 2025.

Meanwhile, some Stocktwits users believe the shares present an attractive buying opportunity at current levels.

Joby Aviation shares have lost over 2% since the beginning of the year.

For updates and corrections email newsroom@stocktwits.com