ChargePoint Holdings Inc (NYSE:CHPT) shares are trading lower by 6.3% to $1.28 Monday afternoon. The broader EV sector may be trading lower in sympathy with Tesla Inc following the company's decision to slash vehicle prices in major markets like the United States, Germany and China.
Rivian Automotive Inc, a prominent player in the EV market, is also feeling the heat. They recently cut their workforce by 1%, citing industry slowdown as the reason. This reduction mainly targeted support and back-office roles, in contrast to previous cuts that affected product teams and commercial EV projects. Adding to the sector's woes, Tesla itself recently laid off around 10% of its workforce.
How To Buy CHPT Stock
By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for ChargePoint – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.
Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy 'fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, or Amazon.com, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.
In the the case of ChargePoint, which is trading at $1.26 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 79.37 shares of stock.
If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to 'go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.
According to data from Benzinga Pro, CHPT has a 52-week high of $10.10 and a 52-week low of $1.21.