Posco Holdings’ shares jumped as much as 24% on Monday, the most on record, on strong quarterly profits and frenzied retail buying of stocks related to electric-vehicle batteries, Bloomberg reported.
The stock also appears to have got a shot in the arm by short sellers rushing to cover their bearish bets. At the same time, a report that US House committees are investigating Ford Motor Co.’s partnership with a major Chinese battery maker spurred buying of South Korean rivals, the newswire reported.
Posco’s shares surged to the highest level since 2007, as it recorded the biggest quarterly profit in a year.
Posco’s operating profit in the second quarter follows a huge investment plan announced earlier this month. The company intends on investing US $92 billion through 2030, to take its business beyond its mainstay steel operations. The investment will mainly go into expanding its production of EV battery materials, as well as hydrogen, Bloomberg stated.
The company’s operating income was 1.3 trillion won ($1 billion) in the three months ended June 30. While that’s down from a year earlier, it’s nearly double the 705 billion won in the first quarter, the country’s largest steel producer said Monday. That beat analyst expectations for 1.12 trillion won, the newswire reported.
Separately, Reuters reported that two US House of Representatives committees said Friday they are investigating Ford’s partnership with Chinese battery company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.
Reuters reported that the two US House of Representatives committees want answers around the deal that Ford wants to carry out with CATL. Ford said in February that it and CATL plan to build a battery plant in Michigan.