Carvana stocks jumped 33% on Thursday after skyrocketing by 111% over the five previous sessions. As a result, the online used car seller’s shares are up 282% for the year to date.
The company’s stock surge came primarily during January’s rally driven by speculative growth shares, with short sellers rushing to cover themselves with heavily shorted stocks such as Carvana. This rise symbolizes a major turnaround after the company resorted to laying off workers in 2022 in an effort to limit its costs.
Despite the company’s recent recovery, Douglas Arthur, managing director at Huber Research Partners, exhibits a bleak outlook going forward.
“Based on my fourth quarter expectations, I expect them [Carvana] to lose $2 billion in 2022 on the bottom line,” Arthur explained in justification of his Sell rating on the stock. “The equity market is largely shut off, and the bond market is largely shut off, so where is the money going to come from if they run out of money?”
After experiencing record-high inflation in 2022, the used car industry remains in a volatile spot with demand still significantly low amid higher interest rates.