Polestar Automotive (NASDAQ:PSNY) is one of many early-stage electric vehicle (or EV) companies looking to grab a share of this fast-growing market, but PSNY stock may be the best of the bunch to buy today.
Yes, this is a pretty bold statement to make. This Swedish-based EV maker has received far less attention than its more high-profile peers, such as Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) and Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN). However, don’t assume this lack of attention means Polestar is an “also ran” in this space.
Not only has this EV contender made greater progress when it comes to production and deliveries. Polestar has also made it much closer to the point of profitability. To top it all off, shares are arguably undervalued than either of these popular yet pricier names.
With this, PSNY may be the best way to add exposure to the vehicle electrification trend.
| PSNY | Polestar Automotive | $3.86 |
PSNY Stock: A Bona Fide Contender
It’s now almost laughable that, at one point, many investors believed that Lucid and Rivian were true competitive threats to market leader Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). Yet while few are calling either one a “Tesla killer” anymore, that’s not to say they are en route to becoming the EV era’s answer to DeLorean, Duesenberg, or any other small automaker that wound up in the junkyard of history.
Each one may still have a shot of achieving scale and becoming profitable. However, while there is great uncertainty about whether either finally takes off in terms of vehicle sales, Polestar is a contender with much more certain future prospects. At least, that’s the takeaway from the company’s success thus far.
For instance, Lucid and Rivian fell short of walked-back expectations last year. Polestar, on the other hand, beat expectations. Targeting 50,000 deliveries in 2022, the EV maker ended up reporting annual deliveries totaling 51,500 vehicles.
That’s not all. In contrast to Lucid and Rivian, both of which burned through billions during 2022, early-stage Polestar more than halved its losses last year. With PSNY stock, though, this success has not been strongly priced-in. This adds further to its appeal.
Underappreciated by the Market
It’s a stretch to call Polestar a value stock. Much like with the more popular EV stocks, Polestar’s market capitalization (around $8 billion) is based largely on future potential, not current performance.
However, when compared to LCID stock and RIVN stock, PSNY stock may have a much easier time bouncing back as the company keeps growing and heads toward consistent profitability. This year, while Lucid attempts to build up to 14,000 vehicles and Rivian tries to hit its 50,000 vehicle production target, Polestar is aiming to sell 80,000 vehicles, including its upcoming Polestar 3 electric SUV.
Much further ahead in terms of scaling up, some sell-side forecasts call for Polestar to become profitable by 2025. Even if the company achieves just a modicum of profitability that year, it may be enough to send the stock (at around $4 per share today) back up toward the high single-digits. Meanwhile, the sell-side expects LCID and RIVN to still be mired in losses two years out.
Not only that, there’s still the question of dilution. Although PSNY intends to raise more capital to fund expansion, this may be less of a risk in this situation than with LCID and RIVN.
Make This EV Standout a Buy
Yes, it may seem like I’m cutting Polestar some slack about dilution. Besides its future capital raise plans, the company last November raised a total of $1.6 billion in financing (including loans that can be converted into equity) from its two main shareholders, Volvo (OTCMKTS:VLVLY) and PSD Investment Ltd.
However, with nearly $1 billion in cash on hand, its losses now running in the hundreds of millions rather than billions, Polestar likely does not need to raise as much future capital as Lucid and Rivian. Both names may end up raising far greater amounts of additional equity relative to their respective current valuations.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not as if Polestar is substantially less risky than the better-known EV contenders.
But with a much more clear-cut path to a rebound, investors bullish on the vehicle electrification trend should consider PSNY stock over LCID and RIVN.
On the date of publication, Thomas Niel did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
