For investors who are bold and contrarian, making a 1,000% gain on a stock over several years isn’t as hard as it may sound. That’s particularly true regarding out-of-favor electric vehicle (EV) stocks and renewable energy stocks, since those relatively new sectors are rapidly evolving and expanding.
Although I haven’t made a 1,000% profit with an EV stock yet, I did with one renewable-energy stock and came relatively close to doing so with another. In late 2019, I bought Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) stock when it was around $3 per share and sold a portion of my shares when the price was about $40 in 2021.
With JinkoSolar (NYSE:JKS), I thought of buying some shares around $7.50 during the December 2018 bloodbath, but I decided not to do so. I did wind up buying a small amount of JKS stock around $13 later that month and sold a portion of my stake in November 2020 at around $75.
And of course, in the EV sector itself, many investors increased their money tenfold or more by betting on Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) during its long climb.
Here are four vastly underestimated, highly promising EV stocks that can follow in the footsteps of PLUG, JKS and TSLA by jumping tenfold by 2026.
Arrival (ARVL)
Arrival (NASDAQ:ARVL) has been much maligned in the financial news media because the automaker has had to delay its production timeline multiple times. However, the company has already achieved a great deal.
Among its accomplishments are European Union (EU) certification for its van and successful trials of its van and bus on public roads. And as of Aug. 11, Arrival reported that it was only a few weeks away from starting production in the U.K. and still on track to “deliver its first vehicles to UPS this year, and start production in Charlotte in 2023.”
Speaking of United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS), the alliance between the delivery giant and ARVL appears to be very much alive, with UPS’s initial order for 10,000 Arrival EVs still intact.
Also boding well for Arrival is the fact it was chosen by Uber (NYSE:UBER) to jointly develop a ride-sharing EV and that the two companies unveiled a prototype of the vehicle. Their successful collaboration indicates Uber was pleased with Arrival’s concepts and technology.
Given Arrival’s huge deal with UPS, the progress it has made on its van so far, the company’s collaboration with Uber and the fact its market capitalization is only $720 million, ARVL stock could easily jump ten-fold in four years.
Ayro (AYRO)
Like Arrival, Ayro (NASDAQ:AYRO) has impressive partnerships and a low valuation, along with a couple of setbacks it can overcome. It also has found a lucrative niche with low competition: the low-speed truck sector, which includes food service, food delivery and campus delivery EVs.
Ayro has long had an alliance with Gallery Carts, a major food truck maker. As I reported in August 2020, Gallery “has made carts and kiosks for four decades and ‘has a diverse clientele throughout mobile food, beverage and merchandise distribution markets.’” Moreover, the company boasts “many high-profile, lucrative contracts” and customers ranging from airports to governments and large corporations.
Ayro has also had an alliance with Club Car, which has been making various low-speed vehicles for over 60 years. Together, Ayro, Gallery and Club Car rolled out a delivery EV called the Club Car Current. And in the second quarter of this year, Ayro reported its sales had surged 88% year-over-year to roughly $982,000.
Now, Ayro is developing a more technologically advanced low-speed utility vehicle called the Ayro Z. A prototype is expected to be unveiled this year. I believe Ayro will use its ties with Gallery Carts and Club Car to help sell the Ayro Z.
It appears the federal government may also be an important customer for the new EV, as Ayro intends to make the EV in the U.S. and plans “to be listed on the government’s GSA schedule by year-end as well to help facilitate vehicle sales into the federal government channel.”
In the past, Ayro has had to deal with multiple challenges, including overspending during the tenure of its previous CEO, Rod Keller, and defective parts that it received from its previous China-based manufacturer, Cenntro. But with its new, more frugal CEO, its updated manufacturing plan, its partnerships and its new EVs, Ayro is well-positioned to be quite successful going forward.
The market capitalization of AYRO stock is only $33 million, so the shares could potentially jump ten times by 2026.
Nikola (NKLA)
Probably the most ridiculed and belittled EV maker ever, Nikola is starting to prove the skeptics wrong by successfully obtaining 134 purchase orders for its Nikola Tre electric truck and delivering 48 of the EVs.
Nikola expects to produce 300 to 500 of the trucks this year and is partnering with a large veteran truck maker, IVECO, on the manufacturing of the Nikola Tre. The companies plan to make battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell versions of the Tre.
Six companies are testing the battery-electric Tre and are likely to cumulatively order hundreds of the vehicles. Moreover, the Tre’s range is an impressive 350 miles, and, according to Seeking Alpha columnist Stephen Tobin, the battery-electric version of the EV is “leading the field at the moment, it is showing excellent reliability over large numbers of miles, and … is the longest-range truck currently in serial production.”
Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) is testing the fuel-cell version of the Tre, and Nikola expects to start mass production of the truck at the end of 2023. Given the proliferation of green hydrogen around the world and the support of the fuel many governments, including that of the U.S., there should be strong demand for Nikola’s hydrogen-driven trucks.
Also importantly, as I’ve pointed out in past columns, hydrogen trucks can haul much bigger loads than battery-electric EVs and can be refueled much more quickly than battery-electric trucks, while Nikola is a first-mover in the hydrogen-truck sector.
Greatly understating Nikola’s huge potential in the electric-truck market, the market capitalization of NKLA stock is just $2.35 billion. Consequentially, I believe it can soar ten times by 2026.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer held long positions in PLUG, JKS, AYRO and ARVL. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.