Rivian gets first grade. It’s a purchase and $ 130 price target.
With courtesy Rivian
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The
Rivian the assessment flood has started. Investors should be happy.
Rivian Automotive (ticker: RIVN) received its first rating. It’s a purchase from Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. His price target is $ 130, almost 25% higher than where Rivian closed for trading on Friday.
Ives calls Rivian an “electric car in the making”, adding that the company “wants to strategically launch itself into an untapped market as SUV / Pickup Truck EVs are virtually non-existent in the EV market today.” Trucks and SUVs are very popular in the United States, and usually account for more than 60% of total passenger car sales.
“Rivian is a unique vertical integrated EV player ready to have an iron-clad grip on the pickup and SUV market,” says Ives Barrons in an email. “RJ and the team have scaled Rivian’s fast and innovative design and skateboard front and center.”
RJ Scaringe is the MIT-educated founder and CEO of Rivian. A skateboard design refers to a car chassis that includes many independent components, including electric motors and batteries. Other car manufacturers also have skateboard designs.
Ives is also encouraged to do so
Amazon.com (AMZN) is an early investor and early customer ordering 100,000 vans from Rivian.
Given that it is the first assessment, it is the first chance for investors to look at estimates. Ives projects $ 3.6 billion in sales from around 45,000 vehicle deliveries in 2022 and $ 8.4 billion in sales from around 105,000 deliveries in 2023. The company is not expected to generate profits in any of the years.
Ive’s target price suggests that the Rivian share should be traded for approximately 15 times the estimated sale in 2023. Shares of
Tesla (TSLA), the EV leader, traded for approximately 11 times estimated sales in 2023.
There is a great appreciation of growth stocks, but Ives knows the way around growth stocks. He covers electric cars and technology stocks such as
Salesforce.com (CRM). On the car side of his coverage list, Ives is considering shares in Tesla and
General motors (GM) both Buy. His price target for the Tesla stock is $ 1,400 per share. His price target for GM is $ 85 per share.
The buy ratings on GM, Tesla and now Rivian are based on Ives’ belief that electric cars will be the dominant form of personal transport in the years to come.
Several Rivian rankings will follow this one – most likely coming on Monday. Wall Street brokers involved in an IPO will have to wait 25 days to launch coverage. Including weekends, the ban has now lapsed.
Rivian investors will welcome some Buy ratings. The stock is down from the top on November 16 at almost $ 180 per share. Rivian shares fell 6.7% in the last week of what was a tough week for growth stocks. The
Russell 1000 Growth Index
fell 2.2 percent. The
S&P 500
fell 1.2% for the week and
Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell 0.9 percent.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com