Rivian suddenly reverses after narrowly missing 2021 production targets and announcing the departure of its chief operating officer
- Rivian shares jumped as much as 6% Tuesday after initially dropping.
- Shares moved after the company announced a narrow production miss and an executive departure.
- The electric truck maker had earlier been trading around its initial public offering price of $78.
Rivian stock jumped as much as 6% Tuesday, reversing from an initial drop that came after the electric truck maker narrowly missed its 2021 production target and confirmed an executive departure.
The startup said late Monday it produced 1,015 EVs last year, just short of its target to manufacture 1,200 of its electric pickup trucks and 25 of its SUVs. It also said it delivered 920 vehicles, which also narrowly missed its target of delivering 1,000 pickups and 15 SUVs, in total, Insider reported. In December, the company warned it might miss its production targets amid supply chain issues.
The production miss was compounded by the confirmed departure of the company's chief operating officer, Rod Copes, who retired in December, the Wall Street Journal reported first. Rivian told Insider in an email that the company's leadership team took over Copes' responsibilities and added that he began a phased retirement from the company several months ago. "We are grateful for his contribution during a critical time," the spokesperson said.
The EV-maker has lost nearly all of its gains since going public at $78 per share in November 2021 in what was one of the largest ever initial public offerings in the US. On Tuesday, shares of the Irvine, California-based company fell as much as 4% to an intraday low of $78.12 before turning 4% higher to $84.86 at 11:05 a.m. in New York.
Still, Rivian stock has dropped nearly 30% in the last month. Shares sank last week after Amazon, which previously announced a 100,000-vehicle order from Rivian, said it struck another deal with EV-maker Stellantis for electric delivery vans.
But the recent share slump didn't stop Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas from saying the EV-maker is still a good long-term play. Investors, he said, just have to be willing to weather a lot of short-term pain.