Credit: Bloomberg

Barclays lowers Rivian’s price target to $38 while keeping an Equal weight rating

Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com

Barclays analyst Brian Johnson lowered on Tuesday the firm’s price target on Rivian Automotive to $38 from $42 while maintaining an Equal weight rating. Last month, the analyst had lowered Rivian’s price target by 59% to $47, from $115. At the time, the analyst says that believes the planned price increase was baked into investor expectations and the rollback of price increase leads him to cut selling price and margin assumptions through 2023. 

Rivian shares hit on Friday a new all-time low at $32.40 per share, down 82% from its all-time-highs in November 2021. The company will report its first quarter 2022 financial results will be released on May 11, 2022, after market close. Rivian will host an audio webcast to discuss its results and provide a business update at 2:00pm PT / 5:00pm ET the same day.

The company announced on April 5 that produced a total of 2,553 vehicles in Q1 2022 at its manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois. Rivian delivered 1,227 vehicles during the same period being in line with the company’s expectations for the year. Rivian believes it is “well positioned to deliver on the 25,000 annual production guidance provided during its Q4 earnings call on March 10, 2022”. 

The American electric vehicle maker had its IPO on November 10, 2021, raising nearly $13 Billion with a price of $78.00 per share. By then, Rivian and Lucid stocks were among the favorites for short-squeeze traders leading Rivian shares to their All-Time-High at $179.47 after the first week of trading.

In the recent weeks, Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner maintained the firm’s Buy rating on Rivian Automotive lowering the price target from $91 to $90. Three months after initiating coverage on the company shares, the analyst had decreased the firm’s price target from $130 to $91. Based on the last closing price, Deutsche Bank’s new price target implies an upside potential of 167%.

Recently, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe warned that the shortage of electric vehicles batteries can affect the auto industry soon being a challenge that “could surpass the current computer-chip shortage”. Auto makers have been facing limited supplies of raw materials like cobalt, lithium and nickel that are fundamental when making a battery.

Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com