Mobileye's (NASDAQ:MBLY) post-IPO share lockup period expires today, enabling the company’s earliest investors to sell shares for the first time since the software company went public last October.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is currently Mobileye’s biggest investor, with over 90% ownership of the company.
Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note, “Our expectation is that Intel could look to reduce its stake in Mobileye in the near term, while maintaining >80% ownership (for tax reasons). We view the share lockup expiration as a solid potential opportunity for investors, as we believe any share offering from Intel will be a well managed process and the potential technical hit to stock may be less than feared.”
Once the share lockup is completed, and shares begin to flow, the stock should also benefit from higher float and liquidity, and less volatility.
With additional SuperVision customer announcements likely on the horizon for this year and serving as positive catalysts, the analysts believe investors should use any stock weakness to add to long positions. They continue to see a large upside to MBLY, which is at the start of a considerable revenue and earnings acceleration as automakers and mobility providers adopt its solutions.
Shares of MBLY are down 0.99% in pre-market trading on Monday.