Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
One day after meeting with the company’s management, Benchmark analyst Mickey Legg released on Friday a new research note reaffirming a ‘Buy’ rating on the EV maker Lucid Motors and a $5.00 price target.
“We spoke with LCID’s new Interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, and CFO, Taoufiq Boussaid, yesterday and came away confident in the new team’s ability to grow sales and scale manufacturing through 2025,” Legg wrote in the note.
As reported earlier this week, the company reached a new sales record in the U.S. with 805 units sold in February, according to Motor Intelligence estimates.
The figures include 750 Air sedans and 55 Gravity SUVs. However, customer deliveries of the brand’s second model have not yet started. The first few units were delivered on the final week of last year to family, friends, and employees.
Benchmark analyst said the firm believes Lucid “is transitioning to a new stage with a focus on expanding scale and cost efficiencies in preparation for its midsize vehicle, slated for SOP in late 2026.”
The EV maker reported its fourth-quarter earnings results in late February and announced, on the same day, that its CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson had stepped down with immediate effect.
Based on the previous closing price of $2.09, Benchmark’s price target implies an upside potential of 139.2%. Year to date, the stock has fallen 29%.
Commenting on the top three targets for the EV maker, Legg mentioned sales growth, “improve manufacturing efficiencies, and create brand awareness.”
In Europe, Lucid has been struggling to increase its brand awareness and demand. As of February 28, the company sold only one vehicle in the Netherlands — where its European headquarters are located.
In Germany, the brand sold nine units while in Switzerland it registered ten vehicles. No Air sedans were registered in Norway between February 1 and 28.
The analyst says Benchmark’s team believes profitability “will be unlocked with the lower-cost midsize platform (<$50k)” plus with the licensing agreements the company has been teased over the last few years.
“The company has indicated that it is in discussion with several OEMs for potential technology licensing agreements,” Leg noted.
CFRA
CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson said in a new research note earlier this week that the carmaker is still “nowhere close to even generating a gross profit” with its cash burn rate “remaining troublesome,”
The analyst upgraded the stock’s rating from ‘Strong Sell’ to ‘Sell’ while reiterating a price target of $1.00.
Nelson stated that the company “remains nowhere close to even generating a gross profit” citing the “full-year 2024 gross loss of over $90,000/vehicle” while its free cash flow “was negative $2.9 billion.”
Despite this year’s vehicle production guidance of 20,000 units — which would more than double the figures from 2024 — the firm sees the company’s cash burn rate “remaining troublesome.”
