A few hours after EV maker Lucid Motors announced a robotaxi deal with ride-hailing platform Uber and autonomous driving startup Nuro, Bank of America (BofA) expressed skepticism, calling the agreement financially “unclear.”
BofA’s analyst John Murphy reaffirmed on Thursday the firm’s Underperform rating on the EV stock.
Uber said it plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in both Nuro and Lucid as part of the program.
The investment in Lucid will total $300 million, while the amount allocated to Nuro was not disclosed.
The debut is expected in a major U.S. city next year, with Uber planning to deploy over 20,000 Lucid vehicles using Nuro’s Level 4 autonomous tech over six years.
The first prototype is already running in Las Vegas, but only in a closed testing area.
Murphy also reiterated the $1.00 price target on the EV stock saying that “challenges remain”.
As of the time of writing, shortly after the note was published, Lucid shares were trading 43% higher at $3.27.
Based on the current price, BofA’s price target implies a downside of 69.4%.
“We still see risk from product development stalling post CEO (Peter Rawlinson) departure earlier in 2025,” Murphy wrote.
Rawlinson abruptly stepped down as the company’s CEO and chief technology officer last February, on the same day of the fourth quarter earnings call — which he did not participate.
Since then, the Board of Directors has been searching for a new CEO while the Chief Operating Officer Marc Winterhoff took the role as interim.
BofA’s analyst also raised concerns about the impact of tariffs and weakening demand for Lucid vehicles.
“In addition, the risk associated with tariff costs and flagging consumer demand for electric vehicles are incremental challenges for the company, in our view,” the analyst wrote in the research note.
Despite seeing it as positive, Murphy showed concerns over the “financial ramifications” of the deal besides the sale of — at least — 20,000 vehicles.
“Although the announcement is a positive development, it remains unclear what the financial ramifications are outside the sale of incremental 20,000+ vehicles and the Uber investment,” Murphy wrote.
“It is unclear whether there are revenue sharing opportunities for LCID, and how large they could be,” he concluded.
Before the partnership was revealed, the stock was down 24% year to date and 36% in the last 12 months.
The announcement came a few minutes after the EV maker revealed plans to make a 1:10 reverse stock split, pending approval from shareholders in an upcoming special meeting.
As of the end of March, Lucid reported an accumulated deficit of $13.3 billion, according to its most recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
