Lucid has reported its first-quarter 2023 earnings, which come at a pivotal time for the EV startup business and segment more generally.
When Lucid and many other EV startups entered the industry, the investing dollars flowing into their ventures seemed endless, but as investors have become more cautious regarding EV ventures and the market has become significantly more competitive, that money has slowed to a trickle. Now, Lucid has reported a massive earnings miss, which will be a crucial indicator for investors regarding the business’s overall health.
According to Lucid’s earnings report, the company pulled in $149.4 million in revenue, resulting in a net loss of $779.5 million. This missed investor expectations, which were set at $209 million in revenue. Earnings per share came in at a loss of $0.43 per share. It should be noted that, despite the earnings miss, Lucid’s earnings did grow year over year quite substantially, up 159%.
Lucid sold 1,406 vehicles in the year’s first quarter and built 2,314. This is more bad news for the automaker, which has been battling a demand crisis since the end of last year. The company says it is still on track to produce 10,000 vehicles this year.
As for the all-important cash reserves, Lucid reported a stockpile of $3.4 billion, which equates to total liquidity of $4.1 billion. Lucid’s CFO states this will be enough cash to last them into the first half of next year.
“Our Q1 revenue was approximately $149 million, which represented a year-over-year increase of 159%. We ended the quarter with just over $3.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and investments, with total liquidity of approximately $4.1 billion, which we believe is sufficient to fund the company at least into Q2 of 2024,” said Sherry House, Lucid’s CFO. “Our mission and optimism are unchanged. We are committed to an environmentally sustainable future – designing, building, and delivering the best EVs on the market.”
Since posting earnings, Lucid shares have plunged in after-market trading.
Looking to the future, Lucid investors will likely hope the business can dramatically improve its financial health and, perhaps more importantly, tackle its demand issues as quickly as possible. Luckily, helping them achieve this will be one of its most anticipated products yet, the Lucid Gravity SUV. By entering a far more popular vehicle segment, Lucid will be poised to sell more units and be capable of pulling in significantly more revenue per quarter.
William is not a shareholder in Lucid Motors.
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