Bank of America reiterated its Underperform rating and $1.00 price target on Lucid Motors following the EV maker’s first-quarter results, warning of a steep potential downside for the stock as revenue and deliveries fell short of expectations.
Lucid reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.20 for the quarter, better than Bank of America’s forecast of a $0.24 loss and the Bloomberg consensus of $0.22, the analyst John Murphy wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.
Revenue came in at $235 million, below BofA’s estimate of $245 million and consensus expectations of $249 million. Lucid delivered 3,109 vehicles during the quarter, which BofA said it also fell short of its original forecast.
Lucid shares closed at $2.33 on Tuesday before the results were released. The stock rose 0.9% to $2.35 in early trading Wednesday. Based on Tuesday’s close, Bank of America’s $1.00 price target implies a sharp downside of 57%.
According to the analyst, average revenue per vehicle stood at $72,400, compared with BofA’s projection of $75,600, largely due to increased incentives.
The company reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $563 million. “Adj. EBITDA of ($563mm) was better than BofA of ($641mm) and consensus of ($574mm) on lower operating expenses (among other items, SG&A included a reversal of $35mm from previously recognized stock-based comp).”
Murphy also noted that Lucid ended the first quarter with $3.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, down from $4.0 billion at the end of the fourth quarter.
Last month, Lucid raised capital through a convertible note offering. “Note that in April, LCID completed a private offering of 5.00% convertible senior notes maturing in 2030 for an amount of $1.1bn. Proceeds were used to repurchase $1.0bn of 1.25% convertible senior notes due in 2026.”
Lucid reaffirmed on Tuesday its full-year production target of “approximately 20,000 vehicles” indicating that it expects to produce over 17,700 EVs between April and December.
As reported earlier this Wednesday, the EV maker’s senior vice president of Operations said Lucid is ready to ship the second batch of Lucid Gravity vehicles to Saudi Arabia for final assembly.
A few hours before reporting the results, the company announced the appointment of two vice presidents and two senior vice presidents, replacing some of the executives who left Lucid over the last months.
As reported earlier this week, Lucid saw its German sales fall for the sixth consecutive month in April. In the Netherlands, where its European headquarters are located, the brand sold one car, down from the 12 recorded in March.
