: Mullen Automotive rallies 48% premarket in massive volume after it announces $25 million share buyback program

Mullen Automotive Inc.’s stock MULN rallied 48% in premarket trade Thursday, a day after it rose 58%, after the company announced a plan to buy back $25 million of its own stock. The Brea, Calif.-based EV maker and meme stock said it believes its stock is “significantly” undervalued and trading at a big discount to its current cash position of about $235 million. “We are initiating this buyback program as an attractive opportunity to deploy capital and return value to our shareholders,” said David Michery, CEO and chairman of Mullen Automotive. Some 128 million shares had already traded in the premarket. On Wednesday, trading volume exploded to a record 1.07 billion shares to more than double the previous one-day record, after the company said it’s hired a law firm to help it combat illegal “naked short selling” of its shares. The EV maker’s stock had suffered a record 85.2% monthly plunge in June, even after the company reported last week that it recorded revenue for the first time and that it was in the “best financial position” in its history.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.