Rivian shares surged as much as 15% on Thursday morning to their highest value since January 9, after the EV maker beat expectations and raised its full-year delivery guidance for 2026.
The Irvine-based company reported 12,194 vehicle deliveries during the second quarter, beating both its guidance of 9,000 to 11,000 vehicles and Wall Street expectations.
Rivian now expects to deliver between 65,000-70,000 vehicles, up from its previous outlook of 62,000-67,000 units.
The increase signals that management is growing more confident in both production execution and customer demand after the launch of the company’s most important vehicle to date, the R2.
The revised guidance implies a strong second half of the year as Rivian continues ramping production of the new midsize crossover, while maintaining deliveries of the R1T pickup and R1S SUV mostly flat.
At the same time, this year’s guidance increase represents a notable change in sentiment compared with last year, when Rivian was forced to lower expectations amid softer industry demand and production adjustments.
Stock Performance
Last month, the company completed a nine-session winning streak, its longest uninterrupted advance since December 2025, as investors positioned themselves ahead of the start of customer deliveries of the R2 crossover.
During that rally, the shares climbed roughly 28% over nine consecutive trading sessions, recovering sharply from the weakness seen throughout April and the first half of May.
The turnaround has been remarkable considering where Rivian stood only a few weeks earlier.
The stock closed at $12.90 on May 19, only marginally above its 52-week closing low of $11.64, reached in August 2025.
From those levels, buyers steadily returned, lifting the shares through the $13, $14, $15, $16 and $17 levels before Thursday’s breakout carried the stock close to $20.
At today’s intraday high of $19.79, Rivian shares have gained approximately 70% from the 52-week low, highlighting just how dramatically investor sentiment has improved since the spring.
On a twelve-month basis, however, the picture has become increasingly positive.
Rivian traded at $14.37 in early June 2025, which suggests the shares are now up by roughly 38% over the past twelve months.
The gains have come despite continued industry headwinds, including slowing EV demand across parts of North America and increased competitive pressure from both legacy manufacturers and Tesla.
2021 Trading Levels
Despite the impressive recovery, the stock still remains below its 2025 high of $22.69, reached on December 22, and its all-time high of $179.47, reached in late 2021 just weeks after its IPO.
At its post-IPO peak in November 2021, Rivian briefly exceeded a $150 billion valuation before shares fell more than 90% over the following years.
As of press time, Rivian‘s market capitalization sat at about $23 billion.
The company went public at $78 per share in November 2021 in the largest IPO of that year, raising $11.9 billion.
The public offering came on top of approximately $12 billion Scaringe said Rivian raised as a private company.
R2 Ramp Gathers Pace
The R2 has become the central focus of Rivian‘s growth strategy in 2026.
Customer deliveries began on June 9, when the company also started sending out order invitations and offering test drives across several locations.
Rivian began showing US reservation holders for its R2 electric SUV an estimate of when they can expect an invitation to order, meeting a self-imposed end-of-June deadline as windows appeared in customer accounts on Tuesday.
Only the R2 Performance with Launch Package at $57,990 is currently available to order. Three additional trims sit behind it in the pipeline.
A dual-motor Premium at $53,990 is expected in late 2026.
A single-motor, rear-wheel-drive Standard Long Range at $48,490 follows in the first half of 2027.
The Standard R2, priced at $44,990 — the base variant Scaringe has called “non-negotiable” — is now targeted for summer 2027.
The timeline was pulled forward from late 2027 to address what Scaringe described as “perception concerns” following online backlash over the original schedule.
