Rivian and Lucid shares plunge after weak EV earnings reports

Shares of electric vehicle makers Rivian and Lucid plummeted Thursday after the companies reported disappointing results and stagnant production in their fourth quarter earnings after the bell Wednesday.

Rivian shares plunged about 25% and Lucid’s stock sank more than 15% as of Thursday afternoon.

Rivian forecast it will make 57,000 vehicles in 2024, slightly below the 57,232 vehicles the company produced last year. Lucid said it expects to make 9,000 vehicles in 2024, about 7% higher than the 8,428 vehicles it made in 2023.

Rivian’s revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter beat Wall Street estimates, but its net loss per share of $1.36 was worse than expected, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv. The company also announced it would cut 10% of its workforce Wednesday,

“Our business is not immune to existing economic and geopolitical uncertainties, most notably the impact of historically high interest rates, which has negatively impacted demand,” Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said on Wednesday’s earnings call.

Lucid reported lower than expected revenue of $157.2 million for the quarter, and its net loss of 30 cents per share was in line with estimates, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG.

Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said the macroeconomic environment and higher interest rates also affected the company. He said the company has had to learn to operate in new locations such as Saudi Arabia with different market dynamics.

Though companies have invested billions of dollars in EVs, sales have grown more slowly than expected. EVs made up 6.9% of sales heading into December, or roughly 976,560 units, up 1.7 percentage points compared with total sales in 2022. 

Rivian and Lucid make up a fraction of EV sales compared to the industry leader Tesla. A Cox Automotive analysis found that Rivian accounted for just over 4% of EV sales in 2023, while Lucid made up 0.5%. Tesla controlled about 55% of the market.

Shares of Rivian have dropped about 40% in the past year and have fallen 85% from their initial public offering price of $78 a share in November 2021. Lucid’s stock is down about 70% in the past year and has dropped more than 75% from its IPO price of $14 a share in October 2021.

Rivian and Lucid weren’t the only EV producers Wall Street was watching Thursday.

Electric truck maker Nikola reported worse than expected revenue and a slightly better than expected loss per share in its earnings Thursday. The stock was trading about flat Thursday, and has lost nearly all of its value since it hit an all-time high of $93.99 in June 2020.

— CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this report