Clear shares fell as sales missed expectations
The future for Lucid is indeed cloudy, but lately the name of an EV startup has been a misnomer.
On Wednesday, Lucid to investors that it delivered 1,404 Air sedans during the second quarter, missing Wall Street analyst expectations by nearly 600 vehicle deliveries. The startup also said it built 2,173 vehicles during Q2, down from 2,314 in the first quarter of this year.
Investors are already worried about declining demand for the Lucid luxury electric car, and the latest statistics only reinforce that narrative. So it’s no surprise that LCIDs are now in landfills. Individual shares opened at $7.74 today and are down more than 12% during regular trading, per Google Finance. After hitting a low of $7.08 per share, the stock is up slightly to around $7.22 this afternoon. The company’s 52-week high of $21.78 per share has long since faded in its proverbial rearview mirror.
In sharing its new stats, Lucid emphasized in a statement that these shipping and production numbers “represent only one measure” of its performance. For additional insight, we’ll have to wait until August 7th, when the company is slated to fully open its Q2 book.
No matter what the quarterly report says, 2023 is going to be a very difficult year for Lucid.
To briefly summarize the year so far: The company celebrated a production milestone in January, missed Wall Street delivery expectations in February, recalled hundreds of vehicles and said it would reduce its workforce in March, posted lower-than-expected revenue and profit in the month May , and announced an attractive deal with Aston Martin in June. On second thought, rocky is an understatement.
