Both Rivian Automotive and Lucid suffered a double blow in performance, leading to a sharp drop in stock prices, unable to escape the "misfortune."
Electric vehicle manufacturers Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group saw a sharp decline in their stocks on Thursday as their performance and production fell short of expectations. Rivian Automotive exceeded revenue expectations in the fourth quarter but performed poorly in net losses, leading to announced layoffs. Lucid's quarterly revenue was below expectations, with net losses in line with forecasts. Rivian Automotive and Lucid's stock prices fell by about 25% and 17% respectively. Electric vehicle sales growth is slow, accounting for only 6.9% of total sales. The CEOs of Rivian Automotive and Lucid stated that the macroeconomic environment and higher interest rates have impacted the companies.
Zhitong App learned that the stocks of electric car manufacturers Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group (LCID.US) plummeted on Thursday, following disappointing performance announcements and stagnant production levels after the closing on Wednesday.
By the Thursday closing, Rivian Automotive's stock price dropped by about 25%, while Lucid's fell nearly 17%.
In the fourth quarter, Rivian Automotive's revenue reached $1.32 billion, exceeding Wall Street's expectations. However, with a net loss per share of $1.36, the performance fell short of analysts' expectations according to LSEG. The company also announced a 10% reduction in staff on Wednesday.
Rivian Automotive forecasts producing 57,000 cars in 2024, slightly lower than the 57,232 produced last year. Lucid expects to produce 9,000 cars in 2024, about 7% more than the 8,428 produced in 2023.
RJ Scaringe, CEO of Rivian Automotive, stated during Wednesday's earnings call, "Our business is not immune to current economic and geopolitical uncertainties, especially the historically high interest rates negatively impacting demand."
Additionally, Lucid reported quarterly revenue of $1.572 billion, below expectations. The net loss per share of 30 cents aligned with expectations based on LSEG's analyst survey.
Peter Rawlinson, CEO of Lucid, mentioned that the macroeconomic environment and higher interest rates also affected the company. He noted that the company had to learn to operate in new locations like Saudi Arabia, where market dynamics differ.
From an industry perspective, despite significant investments in electric vehicles by various companies, sales growth has been slower than expected. As of December, electric car sales accounted for 6.9% of total sales, approximately 976,560 vehicles, marking a 1.7 percentage point increase compared to 2022.
Compared to industry leader Tesla, Rivian Automotive and Lucid only hold a small share in electric car sales. Cox Automotive's analysis revealed that Rivian Automotive's share in electric car sales slightly exceeded 4% in 2023. Meanwhile, Lucid accounts for 0.5% of the market share. Tesla controls approximately 55% of the market.
In terms of stock price, Rivian Automotive has dropped by about 40% in the past year. Compared to the IPO price of $78 per share in November 2021, the stock price has fallen by 85%. Lucid's stock price has declined by around 70% in the past year. Compared to the IPO price of $14 per share in October 2021, the drop exceeds 75%.
However, Rivian Automotive and Lucid are not the only electric vehicle manufacturers that Wall Street is focusing on this Thursday.
Electric truck manufacturer Nikola (NKLA.US) reported revenue below expectations in Thursday's earnings report, with a per-share loss slightly better than expected. The stock traded mostly flat on Thursday, almost hitting rock bottom since reaching its all-time high of $93.99 in June 2020.