Rivian Stock Drops On Disappointing Fourth Quarter Earnings

Shares of electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive plunged in Thursday’s after-hours trading after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings results fell below Wall Street’s expectations. The company’s shares were down more than 13 percent. It had earlier hit a new 52-week low on Thursday.

Apart from its below-the-expectation earnings result, the company also announced that its production for 2022 will be modest as it continues to battle supply chain constraints and other challenges. The company said it expects to produce 25,000 electric trucks and SUVs this year, half of its forecast to investors last year when it went public.

In a letter to shareholders, the company wrote that “In the immediate term, we are not immune to the supply chain issues that have challenged the entire industry. Those issues, which we believe will continue through at least 2022, have added a layer of complexity to our production ramp-up,” adding that reservations for its vehicles have gotten to 83,000 from 71,000 in December.

On Thursday, while the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings results, it mentioned a planned increase in production will come alongside an adjusted loss of $4.75 billion and capital expenditures of $2.6 billion this year.

In the fourth quarter, Rivian reported loss per share of $2.43, adjusted, compared to analysts’ expectation of $1.97 per share. Revenue came in at $54 million compared to an expectation of $60 million from analysts.

The company failed to issue guidance for revenue for 2022. Analysts, however, forecast a full-year adjusted loss per share of $4.97 and revenue of 43.16 billion, according to a consensus polled by Refinitiv.

It reported an adjusted operating loss of $2.8 billion for 2021 – $1.1 billion out of this came in the fourth quarter. The company made more losses compared to the previous year. Net loss for 2021 stood at $4.7 billion, including the $2.5 billion recorded in the last quarter.

At the end of 2021, Rivian had $18.4 billion cash on hand, signalling the company is still financially sound. The company expects its capital expenditures to run into a total of $8 billion through the end of 2023. Rivian has previously set a production goal of 150,000 vehicles per year by that date.

The company would have been able to produce more than 50,000 units this year if the supply chain constraint didn’t exist, the company’s CEO R.J. Scaringe told investors on Thursday. “We’re working as hard as we can to get the suppliers ramped,” he said.

As of Thursday’s close, the company’s shares were down 60 percent this year.