Rivian electric pickup trucks sit in a parking zone at a Rivian service center on May 09, 2022 in South San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Electric vehicle startup Rivian Automotive reported mixed fourth-quarter earnings and a lackluster production outlook after the bell Tuesday.
Shares of Rivian were down by roughly 8% during prolonged trading. The stock closed Tuesday at $19.30 a share, up 4.6% for the session.
Here’s how Rivian performed within the period, compared with analysts’ estimates as compiled by Refinitiv:
- Adjusted loss per share: $1.73 vs. $1.94 estimated
- Revenue: $663 million vs. $742.4 million estimated
The corporate reported an adjusted loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of nearly $5.2 billion in 2022, narrower than guidance of a $5.4 billion loss in November.
For 2023, Rivian forecast vehicle production of fifty,000 vehicles. That might be roughly double last 12 months’s amount but below expectations of roughly 60,000, as estimated by several Wall Street analysts.
“Supply chain continues to be the fundamental limiting factor of our production; throughout the quarter we encountered multiple days of lost production as a result of supplier shortages. We expect supply chain challenges to persist into 2023 but with higher predictability relative to what was experienced in 2022,” the corporate said in its letter to shareholders.
Rivian said it expects to realize a positive gross profit in 2024. Net loss for the fourth quarter was $1.7 billion — a narrower result than the $2.5 billion loss it reported a 12 months earlier.
The outcomes follow difficult times for the electrical vehicle startup which have included slower-than-expected production, unexpected pricing pressure and plans to put off 6% of its workforce in a bid to conserve money.
Rivian is specializing in ramping up production of its R1 truck and SUV in addition to an electrical delivery van it builds for Amazon, its largest individual shareholder.
As of the tip of last 12 months, the corporate had about $12.1 billion in money remaining, down from $13.8 billion at the tip of the third quarter and $15.5 billion as of June 30. Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter were $294 million in comparison with $455 million throughout the year-earlier period.
Rivian said while inflation has been a consider its supply chain, it’s going to proceed to take steps to ramp up production and reduce material costs by slimming down its engineering and vehicle design, together with industrial cost-down efforts.
The corporate’s forthcoming R2 model, for instance, will use a simplified assembly and sourcing process to realize “a meaningfully lower cost structure,” CEO RJ Scaringe said on an analyst call following the earnings report.
He added the automaker is “in a really different position with our supply chain today” relative to a 12 months ago, which is able to help the corporate execute on more “aggressive cost and pricing” measures.
“It won’t necessarily be a linear path over the course of the subsequent several quarters but we are going to begin to see those impacts as early as Q1 as we start to cut back the fabric costs in our vehicles and the technology introductions,” said Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough.
— CNBC’s Phil LeBeau contributed to this report.
