On Thursday, March 10, EST, after the US stock market, "Tesla rival" Rivian (RIVN) announced its fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 financial report, because the fourth quarter profit was lower than Wall Street expectations, and the 2022 car production was only slightly increased, Rivian's US stock price rose 1.00% after the hours, a decline of 13.29%.
On Thursday, Rivian U.S. stocks closed down 6.35 percent at $41.16 and even hit a nearly 52-week low earlier in the day. The cumulative year-to-date decline is 60%, down nearly 80% from its high of $179.47 since its listing in November last year.
Specifically, look at its core financial indicators:
Fourth-quarter adjusted loss per share of $2.43, analysts expected a loss of $2.05;
Fourth quarter revenue of $54 million, analysts expected revenue of $64 million;
Fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.11 billion;
Adjusted net loss for the fourth quarter was $1.24 billion.
In addition, Rivian also gave 2022 performance guidance:
The normal production capacity in FY2022 is expected to be approximately 600,000 vehicles, and the production of 25,000 electric trucks and SUVs is expected.
Capital expenditures are expected to be $2.6 billion in 2022.
Adjusted EBITDA is expected to lose $4.75 billion in 2022; adjusted loss per share is expected to be $4.97.
Earnings were poor and stock prices fell
Unlike the "unlimited scenery" when it first went public, the electric vehicle manufacturer is facing production difficulties and rising costs caused by the supply chain, following the expansion of the net loss from less than $300 million to $1.233 billion in the third quarter, and the failure to reach the target of 1200 units by the end of the year has disappointed the market.
Although it is not uncommon for startups to initially have low revenue and large losses, they will spend a lot of money to upgrade and adjust production. Rivian says it doesn't expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future.
In one of its statements, Rivian said:
As we continue to upgrade our production facilities, manage supply chain challenges, face ongoing inflationary pressures, and minimize price increases to our customers in the short term, we expect to recognize negative gross margins throughout 2022.
Production is blocked and production is limited
In addition to profitability issues, Rivian received market attention from its production problems, and its production preparations were not unsuccessful, and Rivian's Normal plant in Illinois was shut down for a week in early January.
As of Dec. 15, Rivian had approximately 71,000 bookings for R1T pickups and R1S SUVs in North America.
On Jan. 10, Rivian reported that by the end of 2021, it had sold 1,015 vehicles and delivered 920. As of Tuesday, March 8, Rivian has produced 1,410 cars in 2022 and 2,425 since production began.
In a letter to shareholders by Rivian on Thursday, it said "supply chain issues" will limit its production this year:
In the near term, we have not been spared supply chain issues that pose a challenge to the entire industry. These issues, which we believe will continue at least until 2022, add a layer of complexity to our production volumes.
R.J. Scaringe, CEO of Rivian, said that if there are no problems in the supply chain, the company will have the ability to produce more than 50,000 vehicles this year:
We are doing our best to increase the capacity of our suppliers.
The price increase was blocked and the subscription was canceled
In response to rising costs and production woes, Rivian's intention to raise the price of bicycles by $12,000-20,000 in the first week of March 2022 was met with fierce resistance from pre-orderers, with reports of mass unsubscription.
Rivian previously revealed that the price of its R1T electric pickup will be about 17% higher than previously expected. This would increase the base cost from $67,500 to about $78,975. The price of the R1S SUV will jump by about 20%, increasing the new base price from $70,000 to about $84,000. All prices are before the $7,500 federal tax credit.
Originally scheduled to apply the new price to new and existing orders, but the scheduled customer threatened to cancel the order, so on March 3, Rivian reversed its decision to apply the price increase only to new orders.
In addition, Rivian also said in the earnings report that it is exploring expanding its business partnership with Amazon AMZN.