Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) stock closed in the red yesterday after the electric vehicle (EV) company reported its production and deliveries for the first quarter.
Rivian produced 13,980 vehicles, falling short of the Visible Alpha estimate of 14,250 vehicles by about 2%. Deliveries tallied in at 13,588 vehicles, beating the analyst estimate for 13,000 vehicles. The company has guided for full-year production of 57,000 vehicles compared to actual production of 57,232 vehicles in 2023. Rivian has also confirmed that it will report Q1 earnings on May 7 after the market close.
Wall Street analysts provided mixed opinions about the numbers. CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson lowered his price target to $8 from $10 while maintaining a “sell” rating. Nelson now carries the lowest price target among all analysts.
On TipRanks, Nelson is rated at 4,059th among 8,786 analysts. He carries a success rate of 63% and an average one-year return of 1.40%.
RIVN Stock: CFRA Cuts Price Target to $8
Nelson believes that Rivian has significant demand, scale and cash burn issues, which will result in lower net sales for Q1 when compared to Q4. On the bright side, Rivian’s deliveries came ahead of the CFRA estimate for 12,000 vehicles. This resulted in Nelson increasing his 2024 adjusted EPS estimate to a loss of $3.65 from a loss of $3.75.
Meanwhile, Truist Securities analyst Jordan Levy took on a more bullish view and reiterated his price target of $11 and “hold” rating. Levy believes that the production and delivery figures should help alleviate some concerns surrounding EV demand. However, the analyst advised that investors should remain aware of the planned Normal facility shutdown, which could affect volume, margins and cash flows.
“We ultimately see shares remaining range bound until RIVN can demonstrate sustainable gross margin improvement coming out of the Normal shutdown,” said Levy.
Elsewhere, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard reiterated his price target of $23 and “overweight” rating. His price target utilizes a 10-year discounted cash flow (DCF) model with a weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of 10% and a terminal growth rate of 2%.
RIVN stock carries an average price target of $17.74 among 25 analysts with coverage. Evercore ISI has the highest price target at $35 per share.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan 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.
