24 x 7 World News

Lucid Q4 earnings: Slow deliveries, Saudi stake raise questions

0

While Lucid slightly beat its 2022 production forecast, that estimate was cut from its original forecast of 20,000. The automaker’s stock price peaked Nov. 16, 2021, closing at $55.52, before falling steady last year as production lagged.

Investors also submitted questions on Lucid pricing after the company offered sales and lease incentives.

Lucid said on its third-quarter earnings call last year that it had 34,000 reservations for various trims of the Air sedan, which amounted to an extensive backlog. But earlier this month, the automaker announced sales incentives of up to $7,500 on some Air models after EV rival Tesla Inc. cut prices across its four-model lineup.

A change in the federal EV tax credit that took effect Jan. 1 removed the Lucid Air from the list of qualifying vehicles due to new price caps. Tesla’s rival Model S also does not qualify for the $7,500 EV incentive, which caps sedan prices at $55,000.

The base Lucid Air model, the Pure trim, starts at $89,050 with shipping compared with the Model S, which starts at $96,630 with shipping.

Some investors also submitted questions seeking more information on Lucid’s second model, the Gravity crossover scheduled to launch in 2024. Lucid is expected to open reservations this year.

For Wednesday’s earnings report, financial analysts expect Lucid to post another loss for the fourth quarter after burning through billions of dollars in the last two years.

Revenue is expected to rise to $302 million in fourth-quarter 2022 from $26 million in fourth-quarter 2021 on growing Air deliveries, according to the mean earnings estimated from Refinitiv.

Leave a Reply