Normally, turning in an earnings report that features the word “beats” a couple times sends share prices up nicely. That wasn’t the case for EV manufacturer Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) in Wednesday’s trading, however…at least, not for long. Rivian was down over 8% in Wednesday afternoon’s trading, despite being up in the morning. Rivian posted a pretty sound earnings report as it beat expectations. That prompted big kudos from analysts like Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas. Jonas noted that Rivian was doing the heavy lifting, building its cash stock, and looking for likely strategic partnerships to come.
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Furthermore, Rivian impressed Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives, who feels the company is finally on track after past hiccups in management and production. He’s bullish on Rivian’s trajectory, sticking to an Overweight rating and bumping up its price target to $32. Over at Needham, Chris Pierce nods in agreement, highlighting Rivian’s achievable second-half estimates and the company’s strong position in the lucrative pickup and SUV segments.
Perhaps most interestingly—and perhaps also what sent shares plunging in the afternoon—was Rivian’s bold proclamation that it would not be joining in the price war started by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) not so long ago. Rivian noted that the demand for its vehicles has been “strong,” so why bother cutting prices to draw in customers when customers are already coming in of their own accord? Rivian is also “very confident in the current backlog,” so that’s one less reason to cut prices.
Meanwhile, the analyst community feels pretty confident about Rivian overall. Rivian stock is considered a Moderate Buy by analyst consensus, with 11 Buy ratings leading six Hold and one Sell. Further, Rivian stock boasts a 22.13% upside potential thanks to its average price target of $27.81.
