Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) shares fell 7.91% to $5.29 Friday as investors weighed a Barclays downgrade and a nearly $116.9 million jury award in a Florida trade-secrets case. The Nasdaq rose 0.27% and the S&P 500 gained 0.41% at the time of writing.
Barclays analyst Anthony Valentini cut Joby to Underweight from Equal-Weight and lowered his price target to $4 from $6. The downgrade came as investors assessed the potential financial and legal implications of the verdict.
Florida jury awards Aerosonic nearly $116.9 million
On October 5, a federal jury in Tampa, Florida, awarded aircraft-parts maker Aerosonic nearly $116.9 million, finding that Joby Aero Inc. had breached a confidentiality agreement and misappropriated trade secrets. More than $68 million of the award relates to the contract breach, while more than $48 million concerns the willful misappropriation of trade secrets tied to air-data probes.
A Joby spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with the verdict and plans to pursue available post-trial and appellate remedies. The jury also rejected Joby's counterclaims, which alleged that probes sold by Aerosonic were defective.
Further legal proceedings may follow. Joby has said it will take additional action, but no post-trial or appeal outcome has been reported. The dispute centers on aircraft data probes and related confidential information; the award is one factor investors may consider when assessing the company's legal exposure.
Shares trade below key moving averages
JOBY was 13.2% below its 20-day simple moving average, 23.6% below its 50-day average, 34.2% below its 100-day average and 44% below its 200-day average. The 50-day average remains below the 200-day average, following a death cross in February. Shares have remained beneath both longer-term averages since then.
The relative strength index (RSI) stood at 23.06, a level commonly associated with oversold conditions and consistent with concentrated recent selling. However, an oversold reading can persist during a sustained decline and, by itself, does not confirm a trend reversal.
A resistance reference sits near $6.05, around the 20-day average, while support is estimated at about $5.58, near the 52-week low area. At $5.29, Joby shares were already below that cited support level at the time of writing.