Rivian Is A 'Show-Me-The-Money' Story But Has 'More Pieces In Place' Than Peers: Analysts React To Q1 Earnings

Electric vehicle company Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ: RIVN) reported first-quarter production of 2,553 vehicles. The company delivered 1,227 vehicles in the first quarter and reported more than 90,000 net pre-orders of its Rivian R1 electric pickup truck.

Here is what analysts are saying about the company’s first quarter.

The Rivian Analysts: RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak had an Outperform rating and lowered the price target from $100 to $77.
Mizuho Securities analyst Vijay Rakesh had a Buy rating and lowered the price target from $90 to $80.
Bank of America analyst John Murphy had a Buy rating and lowered the price target from $140 to $100.

Related Link: Rivian Q1 Earnings Highlights: 2,553 Vehicles Produced, 1,277 Delivered, Supply Chain Constraints And More 

The Analyst Takeaways: RBC Capital Markets' Spak lowered the price target, but called Rivian a positive risk/reward opportunity with several positive comments from the company’s earnings call.

“Investors have become increasingly concerned about RIVN’s need for additional capital. However, management indicated that the $16B+ of cash on hand gives them a clear path to launch the R2 platform in 2025,” Spak said.

The analyst pointed to strong demand and the potential to use profits from its Normal, Illinois, plant to help facilitate further production. The big issue facing the company is supply chain constraints.

Mizuho Securities' Rakesh said Rivian showed improving deliveries in the quarter and with comments on the current quarter but still has “miles to go.”

Positives for the analyst in the quarter were $17 billion cash on hand, production doubling in the second half of 2022 and a strong backlog.

“Near-term, however, RIVN could continue to be a ‘show-me-the-money story until they execute on their roadmap,” Rakesh said.

Rivian’s deliveries in the first quarter were below a forecast from Bank of America's Murphy.

“However, RIVN produced 2,553 vehicles in the quarter, more than double the 1,015 produced in 4Q:21, which indicates that the production ramp may be starting to manifest despite ongoing supply chain bottlenecks,” Murphy said.

The analyst was encouraged by the pre-order total of 90,000, up from 83,000 reported in March and 70,000 reported in January. The 90,000 pre-orders are also incremental to a 100,000 unit order from Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), the analyst noted.

Murphy reminded investors this is only the third quarter reported by Rivian since it went public and the company keeps trucking along.

“And while the competitive landscape for electric vehicles is fierce, we believe RIVN has more pieces in place and in progress than most EV OEM peers.”

Price Action: Rivian shares are up 20.92% to $24.89 Thursday at publication.