Trump's Tweet Boosts Workhorse Stock By 200%, Might Acquire GM’s Lordstown Plant

General Motors Company has issued a statement clarifying it is still in discussions to sell its shuttered motor vehicle assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio to Workhorse Group Inc., a maker of electric delivery vans based in Cincinnati.

A final deal hasn't been reached, said GM, which contradicts a tweet by president Donald Trump suggesting the sale to Lordstown is a done deal. Trump had earlier tweeted about the deal, which some analysts say helped boost Workhorse’s penny stock (or a stock trading below $1.00) to a record high on Wall Street.

Shares of Workhorse soared more than 214 percent Wednesday after news of the negotiations and Trump’s tweet broke. The stock closed at $2.65 after opening at 82 cents.

Workhorse only had an average daily volume of 345,127 shares over the past month. By the closing bell on Wednesday, its trading volume skyrocketed to 45.9 million shares.

"GM will be selling their beautiful Lordstown Plant to Workhorse, where they plan to build Electric Trucks. GM will also be spending $700,000,000 in Ohio…," tweeted Trump. Trump later said GM will spend this sum in three separate locations, but gave no details.

It's unclear what Trump meant by GM spending $700,000,000 in Ohio. GM hasn't issued an explanation about this either.

A GM statement said the company is in talks with Workhorse “and an affiliated, newly formed entity” to sell the plant. It said that “upon final agreement, the entity, led by Workhorse founder Steve Burns, would acquire the facility. Workhorse would hold a minority interest in the new entity.”

Analysts say the ongoing talks will likely see GM and Workhorse establish a joint venture to run the plant. GM and Workforce have done business before. Workhorse was founded by investors who took over the production of GM’s P30/P32 series stepvan and motorhome chassis.

Lordstown will produce a commercial electric pickup as its first vehicle if the deal does push through, said Workhorse CEO Duane Hughes.

Workhorse earlier confirmed that it’s one of the finalists being considered for a next generation electric delivery van being ordered by the United States Postal Service.

"Based on media reports and comments from the US Postal Service, testing for the next generation vehicle is done and a request for production is due later this year," said analyst Jeffrey Osborne in a note to investors from diversified financial services firm Cowen.

Analysts are raising eyebrows, however, over Workhorse raising on its own the massive capital needed to buy the Lordstown plant without outside investors. Workhorse only employs some 100 people and has a market cap of just $173 million. The company was founded in 1998.