Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) is just one of many players in the increasingly competitive field of electric vehicle manufacturers. Those investing in this area need to be highly selective and always delve deeply into the data. Today, we’ll uncover some of the most important data and provide our LCID stock forecast, which isn’t optimistic.
Indeed, we’re assigning Lucid stock an “F” grade today and asking you to consider steering clear of it. We’re not just saying this because Lucid Group’s chief financial officer resigned, though this might not be a great sign for the company. As you’ll see, there are other reasons to choose not to invest in Lucid Group this year.
The Awful Performance of LCID Stock
In case you didn’t get the memo, the days of easy-money policy and speculative stock-market fervor are in the rear-view mirror. It’s not 2021 anymore, and the market isn’t as tolerant of unprofitable startup EV makers like Lucid Group.
This helps to account for why Lucid stock has declined from over $50 in 2021 to $3 and change recently. Sure, there have been brief head-fakes to the upside, but the sellers always took back control of the price action, eventually.
This relentless share-price decline could conceivably end soon, but don’t count on it. Bear in mind, Lucid Group originally guided for production of 12,000 vehicles in 2023. The company then modified its full-year production forecast to “more than 10,000” EVs, followed by a range of 8,000 to 8,500 vehicles.
So, how many EVs did Lucid Group actually end up producing in 2023? The final figure is 8,428. Lucid might call that a victory, as it’s within the range of 8,000 to 8,500 vehicles. Still, 8,428 is a paltry number when compared to Lucid Group’s prior predictions.
Beating an Estimate Isn’t Always a Great Achievement
For what it’s worth, Lucid Group delivered 1,734 vehicles during the fourth quarter of 2023. This result beat Wall Street’s call for 1,696 delivered vehicles. Is this really a great achievement, though?
Frankly, that’s a low bar to clear. Lucid Group isn’t a company that just started up a couple of years ago. Lucid has been around since 2007, and delivering less than a couple of thousand EVs to customers in three months’ time isn’t a spectacular achievement.
Lucid Group only delivered 6,001 vehicles in all of 2023. From a certain standpoint, this makes Lucid’s 2023 EV-production total of 8,428 less impressive. It reminds investors that just because Lucid Group built that many vehicles, doesn’t mean the company came close to actually selling that many.
LCID Stock Forecast: Watch Out for Deeper Declines
Lucid Group is clearly proud of the company’s fancy, feature-rich vehicles. That’s all fine and well, but luxurious vehicles don’t necessarily translate to high production and delivery numbers.
After scrutinizing the data, it’s clear that Lucid Group has neither produced nor sold a very large number of EVs. That’s problematic when the EV industry is crowded and ultra-competitive. Consequently, our LCID stock forecast indicates that lower prices may be coming in 2024. In the final analysis, we’re assigning the stock an “F” grade and certainly not recommending it today.
On the date of publication, neither Louis Navellier nor the InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article held (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
