What happened

EV charging network company ChargePoint Holdings (NYSE: CHPT) has pretty much fallen out of favor with investors. Even after a big down month in December, when the stock dropped about 25%, shares in ChargePoint continue to fall. As of Friday-morning trading, the stock has had another bad week, with shares down over 14% according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

So what

ChargePoint is a leading EV charging company in North America and is expanding in Europe. It has become one of the few EV companies going public through SPAC mergers to follow up with increasing revenue projections. The company has raised its calendar year 2021 annual revenue guidance in each of the past two quarterly reports.

Image source: ChargePoint Holdings.

But investors are focusing more on the macroeconomic picture in 2022, with expectations of future revenue growth being offset by a shift in the Federal Reserve's policy plans to battle inflation. If inflation persists, the value of future revenue and earnings will be hurt. That seems to be driving names like ChargePoint lower.

Now what

This week's stock drop doesn't come with any current news from the company. ChargePoint provides electric fueling networks for commercial, fleet, and residential customers. It reported 79% year-over-year revenue growth in its recently reported fiscal 2022 third quarter, ended Oct. 31, 2021. That allowed it to raise revenue guidance for the second time in six months for its full fiscal year. But investors focused more on the bottom line, which showed a growing net loss for the period.

ChargePoint is spending more to grow out its hardware network of charging stations. It hopes that will lead to a growing stream of recurring revenue from its software. The company did report its gross margin grew to 25%, a jump of 500 basis points versus the prior-year period. That came from product cost improvements and from acquisition impacts.

Investors interested in this stock should enter it with a long time horizon and the knowledge that it remains speculative. Success will rely both on significant growth in EV demand and on the ability to convert the hardware into reliable recurring revenue. For those with that outlook, the shorter-term drop based on the macro environment might make the recent downtrend look like an appealing entry point.

10 stocks we like better than ChargePoint Holdings Inc.
When our award-winning analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and ChargePoint Holdings Inc. wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

See the 10 stocks

*Stock Advisor returns as of January 10, 2022

Howard Smith owns ChargePoint Holdings Inc. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.