Canaccord Genuity reiterated its Buy rating on Rivian, arguing the EV maker can establish itself as the credible second force in the US market behind Tesla.
Analyst George Gianarikas kept the target unchanged from the $22 level he set in March, when he lifted it from $21.
Rivian reported on Thursday a beat on second-quarter vehicle deliveries and raised its full-year outlook range by 3,000 units.
The reaffirmation followed a quarter in which Rivian delivered 12,194 vehicles, beating both its own guidance of 9,000 to 11,000 units and Wall Street estimates, and lifted its 2026 delivery forecast to a range of 65,000 to 70,000 from 62,000 to 67,000.
A Second Force to Tesla
Gianarikas framed Rivian as the only US manufacturer positioned to challenge Tesla at scale, describing a wide gap between the market leader and everyone else and casting Rivian as the most plausible candidate to fill the second slot.
As other carmakers pull back from electric commitments, whether by choice or under pressure from softening demand, the analyst argued that Rivian has a timely opening to pull ahead of the non-Tesla field and, in his words, become “the next American auto icon.”
The thesis rests on the idea that a shrinking pool of committed electric-vehicle makers leaves room for a focused player to capture mass-market volume, a position Rivian is now trying to reach through its lower-priced R2 crossover.
At $22, the target sits about 11% above the $19.79 intraday high the shares touched on Thursday before closing at $18.63.
The Quarter Behind the Call
Rivian‘s decision to raise the guidance implies a heavy second-half ramp of the midsize crossover, while deliveries of the R1T pickup and R1S SUV are expected to hold roughly flat.
The upgrade stood in contrast to 2025, when Rivian cut guidance amid softer industry demand and production adjustments, a shift in tone that underpins the bull case.
Rivian had beaten consensus on deliveries in the first quarter as well, though that period carried no R2 volume, and the company first set its 62,000-to-67,000 target in February with a delivery curve weighted to the back half.
Shares Break Out
Rivian shares closed 8.4% higher on Thursday, having touched $19.79 during the session, their highest level since January 9.
US markets were closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday, with July 4 falling on a Saturday, leaving Thursday’s advance as the latest reading.
The move extended a sharp recovery from the spring, when 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 that trough, the shares have gained roughly 70%, and over the past year they are up 42.5%, including a 19.2% advance over the past five trading sessions.
Even after that run, the stock remains down 5.5% for 2026 to date, having yet to recover all of the ground lost earlier in the year.
The rebound gathered pace last month during a nine-session winning streak, the stock’s longest uninterrupted advance since December 2025, as investors positioned ahead of the start of R2 customer deliveries.
Rivian‘s market capitalization stood at about $23.5 billion, a fraction of the more than $150 billion valuation it briefly reached after its November 2021 debut.
The company went public at $78 per share in the largest US initial public offering of that year, raising $11.9 billion, on top of roughly $12 billion it had raised privately, before the stock fell more than 90% over the following years.
The shares remain below both their 2025 high of $22.69, set on December 22, and their all-time high of $179.47 from late 2021.
R2 at the Center
The R2 sits at the heart of Rivian‘s 2026 growth plan and the analyst’s thesis.
Customer deliveries began on June 9, when Rivian also started sending order invitations and offering test drives, and the company showed reservation holders estimated order windows by a self-imposed end-of-June deadline.
Only the R2 Performance with Launch Package, at $57,990, is currently available to order, after Rivian began volume, saleable production of the crossover in late April.
Three lower-priced trims sit behind it, with a dual-motor Premium at $53,990 due late in 2026 and a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive Standard Long Range at $48,490 following in the first half of 2027.
The base Standard, priced at $44,990 and described by Chief Executive RJ Scaringe as “non-negotiable,” is now targeted for summer 2027, pulled forward from late 2027 to address what he called perception concerns after online backlash over the original timeline.
