Lucid Group banks on customers to sell 'bargain' cars
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Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) rose 5.6% on Tuesday after the company reaffirmed guidance and management called customers their "best salespeople."
Additionally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated its Overweight rating and $10 price target on shares.
In its second quarter earnings report, the EV maker reaffirmed its guide to produce 10,000 vehicles this year. Cantor Fitzgerald analysts Andres Sheppard and Anand Balaji noted that in 2022, LCID produced/delivered 7,180 and 4,369 vehicles, respectively, above the firmâs production estimate of 6,500 and above the companyâs guidance of 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles.
Lucid also lowered its full year capex guidance to between $1.1B and 1.3B from a prior estimate of between $1.4B and 1.6B. The company reported $5.54B in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of June 30 compared to $3.4B as of March 31.
âWe expect Q4 to be our largest quarter of the year as we ramp sales to customers in the government of Saudi Arabia, ramp Pure all-wheel drive and introduce our most affordable variant, Pure rear-wheel drive in September,â Chief Financial Officer Sherry House said on an earnings call.
Counting on customers
The companyâs cars are âan absolute bargain right now,â Chief Executive Officer Peter Rawlinson said on the same call.
âWe need to add more vehicles to the visible fleet on the road. The best advertisement we can get is a Lucid Air driving in the wild,â Rawlinson said.
âThe more people see the cars, the more they get used to them, the more confidence that they have in our potential customer base. And so we're seeking to, of course, draw down upon existing inventory here and get the cars in customers' hands because our best salespeople are our customers. They're our best, firmest advocates.â
âWe're always willing to adjust to market conditions. I think that's very important to retain that flexibility. The key is to get product out into the wild in customers' hands. That's the best marketing tool we've got,â Rawlinson said.
The stock has three Strong Buy ratings from analysts, one Buy, six Holds and one Strong Sell. Seeking Alpha analysts give it two Buys, four Holds and three Sells.
LCID is up 9.4% so far this year and down 64% in the past 12 months.
More on Lucid:


 Lucid Group, Inc. (LCID) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
Lucid Group rises; on track to produce more than 10,000 vehicles this year
Lucid Group: Risky, But Has Saudi Arabia's Backing