Rivian Automotive missed market estimates for fourth-quarter deliveries as powerful competitors and excessive rates of interest weighed on demand for its electrical autos, sending the corporate’s shares down almost 10% on Tuesday.
The corporate handed over 13,972 autos within the final three months of 2023, 10% decrease than the earlier quarter, and under estimates of 14,430, per 13 analysts polled by Seen Alpha.
Excessive rates of interest in the US have raised month-to-month funds for electrical autos, making them much less inexpensive and prompting a worth conflict by market chief Tesla.
Amazon.com, Rivian’s largest backer and a big buyer, additionally doesn’t take deliveries through the fourth quarter whereas it is specializing in vacation procuring.
“It is probably that vacation schedules slowed down deliveries vs manufacturing,” mentioned Vitaly Golomb, a Rivian investor and an electrical and autonomous mobility professional.
Rivian produced 17,541 autos within the final three months of 2023, up 7.5% from the prior quarter. That took the annual manufacturing to 57,232 models, beating its forecast of 54,000.
Tesla additionally posted quarterly deliveries on Tuesday, with the corporate beating market estimates and assembly its annual objective.
Whereas an earlier-than-expected bond issuance in October had despatched Rivian’s inventory plunging on fears over its monetary well being, the corporate is extensively seen as higher positioned among the many EV startups corresponding to Lucid and Fisker.
Rivian has to date averted reducing costs of its autos, betting as a substitute on sustainable demand.
The corporate final month signed a deal for its electrical autos with U.S. wi-fi service AT&T, the primary after its exclusivity pact with Amazon resulted in November.
Some analysts mentioned on Tuesday the Rivian R1T pickup truck, which begins at $73,000, is unlikely to face main competitors from Tesla’s Cybertruck, unveiled in late November.
