VinFast shares on Friday fell 23% to close at $15.40, slipping below its opening price of $22 on Tuesday, when it had surged up to $38.78.
With about 99% of the firm controlled by founder Pham Nhat Vuong, the small amount of publicly available shares makes the stock prone to volatility.
Just $45 million worth of its shares had been traded by late morning, compared with $29 billion worth of shares in Tesla (TSLA.O), according to Refinitiv data.
"Founder Pham Nhat Vuong brought a portion of VinFast to the public markets because he may seek to further monetize his stake over time.
That may be a material overhang for VinFast shares for some time to come," Benowitz said.
Persons:
Mike Blake, VinFast, Pham Nhat Vuong, Jason Benowitz, Benowitz, Nikola, Medha Singh, Noel Randewich, Arun Koyyur, Matthew Lewis
Organizations:
Los Angeles Auto, REUTERS, Nasdaq, U.S, Reuters, Roosevelt Investment Group, Faraday, Thomson
Locations:
Los Angeles , California, U.S, Tesla, Vietnam, VinFast, Bengaluru, Oakland, California