Shares of the EV maker Rivian jumped by 4% on Thursday’s pre-market trading session, as the Irvine-headquartered brand prepares to roll out one of its strongest software updates of 2025.
The jump comes after Baird hiked its price target on the company by 78.6%, from $14 to $25, as the firm cites the R2 launch in the first half of 2026 and the Autonomy roadmap presented last week as major catalysts.
With the stock closing at $17.63 on Wednesday, the new target indicates an upside potential of 41.8%.
Analyst Ben Kallo wrote on Thursday — in a new research note obtained by PriceTarget — that the firm is “upgrading Rivian to Outperform as we move into 2026, which is the year of the R2 launch.”
Baird expects the R2 to “be a boost” for demand, with which Rivian has struggled so far, “and thus by extension the stock as deliveries begin near mid-year.”
Over the past twelve months, the company’s stock jumped 35% and a 20.3% surge in the past 30 days alone.
Last week, Rivian shares reached a new two-year high at $19.60.
Rivian Product Lineup
Besides its commercial delivery van, Rivian currently produces the R1 series, which includes the R1S SUV and R1T pickup — both priced above $70,000.
With the upcoming R2, which will include an entry-level trim priced at $45,000, the company enters a more affordable market.
Speaking with Automotive News earlier this month, Rivian‘s founder and CEO RJ Scaringe reaffirmed that the model “is the first big step toward becoming a manufacturer that’s building and selling millions of cars a year.”
Additionally, the company has described the mid-size SUV as a global product, which will prompt the brand’s expansion to new markets — including Europe.
During Rivian’s latest earnings call, Ben Kallo questioned the CEO on the “philosophy around pricing” of the R2 and production plans for both its main plant in Illinois and the upcoming facility in Georgia — expected to support manufacturing operations from 2028.
The R2 is scheduled to begin production in the first half of 2026 at the company’s Normal plant, with Scaringe expecting that “saleable units” will start being delivered within that timeframe.
According to the chief executive, the R2 will launch with a dual-motor ‘Launch Edition.’
While Scaringe did not comment on the pricing, he emphasized that “it’s not intended to be our most expensive version.”
On Thursday’s note, Kallo wrote that Baird wants “to own into the new product cycle of launching the R2.”
Autonomy Updates
Commenting on Rivian’s ‘Autonomy & AI Day’ event held on December 11, Kallo said that Baird has a positive view on the company’s autonomous strategy “for long-term competitiveness.”
Last month, Scaringe had stated that “what will differentiate Rivian‘s autonomous capabilities will be our end-to-end AI-centric approach.”
At the same time, the CEO revealed that “with the launch of R2, our growing fleet of customer vehicles will collect real-world driving data, which will complement the data already collected by our second-generation R1 vehicles.”
Last week, Rivian confirmed the integration of LiDAR technology in the R2 model.
Rivian has adopted a neural net based approach, which combines both cameras and LiDAR sensors to collect data about the environment and then processes it to detect objects and decide how the car must move.
