Retail traders drive rallies in small-time electric vehicle stocks after Tesla posts better-than-expected China sales

• Electric-car maker Canoo and auto retailer CarLotz rallied more than 30% amid retail-trader hype.
• Electric-vehicle manufacturer Workhorse also jumped Tuesday amid a broader meme-stock rally.
• Tesla reported its May sales in China rose 29% from the month prior. Shares gained before pulling back later in the day.

Social media chatter around electric-vehicle manufacturer Canoo and used auto retailer CarLotz soared Tuesday alongside their stock prices after Tesla posted strong sales growth in China.

Torrance, California-based Canoo closed the day with a 20% gain at $10.71, reaching its highest in two months, as CarLotz, based in Richmond, Virginia, jumped 29% to $7.09, its highest since early May, Markets Insider data show.

Driving the gains was the masses of retail traders on popular Reddit investing threads. HypeEquity data show the two companies were the fourth and fifth top trending stocks on the social platform Tuesday, just after Wendy's and Clover Health which led meme stock gains for the day.

Canoo has declined from its initial valuation since going public via SPAC late last year, as it overhauled its business, replaced its CEO, disclosed an investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and nixed a deal with Hyundai.

But the stock has reversed some of its losses amid renewed interest among retail investors in electric-vehicle makers after the sector peaked in February.

Workhorse, the Loveland, Ohio-based electric-vehicle maker, jumped 12% Tuesday to $15.58 to build on last week's Reddit-driven rally.

As for electric-truck maker Lordstown Motors, the stock closed the day 16% lower after rallying earlier in the day, as it too saw some hype from retail traders.

Lordstown Motors is late with a financial filing to Nasdaq, where its shares are listed-and could be delisted if the electrical vehicle start-up doesn't answer an SEC-issued Notice of Delinquency.

Earlier on Tuesday, Tesla, the electric-vehicle maker run by retail-trader favorite Elon Musk, reported its May sales in China of the Model 3 and Model Y jumped 29% from the month prior. Tesla shares slipped later on in the day, reversing an initial jump in the stock after it posted the results.

Meme stocks across the board rallied for the second day Tuesday. Though Clover Health trumped gains in others with its more than 80% rise, Bed Bath & Beyond, GameStop, Virgin Galactic, BlackBerry, and AMC also rose.