‘Worst has passed’ for Rivian - Barclays
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Rivianâs (NASDAQ:RIVN) latest earnings result and signal of ramping production should serve as a relief for investors, according to analysts.

Shares of the EV startup rose sharply on Wednesday after a report of a lighter than expected Q1 loss and maintenance of a 50K total unit production target for 2023. The reaffirmed guide differed from peers Fisker (FSR) and Lucid (LCID) each of which pulled back on full-year output outlooks on earlier in the week. 

âThe roughly in-line results come after an earlier deliveries expectations reset throughout 2022 and on the 4Q22 earnings conference call in February, driven by global semiconductor shortages amongst other production constraints and supply chain inefficiencies,â JP Morgan analyst Ryan Brinkman wrote. âAs such, we expect that the mere maintaining of the firmâs 2023 deliveries outlook could spark a modest relief rally.â

While Brinkman remained Neutral on the stock, his contemporaries at Bank of America and Barclays were more bullish. 

âWe reiterate our Buy rating on RIVN, which is predicated on our view that the company is one of the most viable among the start-up EV automakers and also a relative competitive threat to incumbent OEMs,â Bank of America analyst John Murphy explained. âRIVN also has an interesting / attractive product, relatively competitive technology, and intangible value in the Rivian brand. While we acknowledge the competitive landscape for EVs is fierce, we believe RIVN has more pieces in place and in progress than most EV OEM peers.â

He assigned the stock a $40 price target.

Similarly, Barclays advised the automaker is ânot out of the woods yet, but the worst has passed.â The team maintained a comparatively conservative $22 price target alongside a Buy-equivalent rating.

âOur overall message on the 1Q result for RIVN is that while there are still myriad challenges ahead to address, we believe RIVN is taking steps in the right direction,â equity analyst Dan Levy told clients. 

While he added the caveat that questions remain on profitability, Levy believes âRIVN has taken the operational improvements to heartâ and has room to better the metric. Negotiations with suppliers could also bear fruit as production ramps, in his view.
Read more on the details of the earnings results.