Rivian continued to close losses, cut costs and increase production in the third quarter with results that beat Wall Street expectations and suggested a more optimistic future, including raising its annual production guidance from 52,000 to 54,000 vehicles.
Electric vehicle maker mentioned Tuesday after markets closed on revenue of $1.33 billion, a figure driven by deliveries of 15,564 vehicles and more than double the same period last year. The company also showed modest revenue growth of 1.5% quarter-over-quarter.
On the income front, the company reported a net loss of $1.37 billion in the third quarter, a 20% decrease from losses of $1.72 billion in the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, the company reported a net loss of $942 million, or earnings per share of $1.19.
Analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance expected revenue of $1.31 billion and an adjusted earnings per share loss of $1.33.
The company said its “strong progress” in cutting costs led it to improve its revised earnings guidance for the year to a loss of $4 billion. While that’s still a huge number away from breaking even or profitable, it’s worth noting that it’s down about $300 million since the beginning of the year. In the first quarter, Rivian forecast an adjusted net loss of $4.3 billion and $2 billion in capital expenditures in 2023. Rivian said Tuesday it also reduced its capital expenditures to $1.1 billion due largely to a shift in the timing of expenditures.
“During the third quarter, we continued to see progress,” RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian, said in a statement. “We produced 16,304 vehicles during the third quarter and continue to strengthen our enduro drive unit line. As a result, we raised our production guidance for the year to 54,000 total units. We also made a further improvement in profitability per vehicle, and introduced the new Max pack variant with a Up to 410 miles, and we’ve rolled out several over-the-air updates to enhance the customer experience. We delivered our 10,000th EDV to Amazon during the third quarter and today we’re opening up Rivian commercial truck sales to new customers. This is an important step forward in our mission and we look forward to helping businesses To reduce its carbon production and move towards a carbon neutral world.
The company is still stacked with $9.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
Amazon exclusivity ends
Rivian also announced that it is no longer locked into an exclusivity agreement with Amazon, opening up an opportunity for the company to sell its commercial trucks to other customers. The electric vehicle manufacturer said Rivian still plans to honor a deal to deliver 100,000 electric trucks to Amazon.
Assuming demand exists and Rivian can continue to cut costs and boost production, this could help the company improve revenues.
Production progress
A year ago, Rivian was mired in supply chain issues and inefficiencies that drove up costs and hampered deliveries. But the company has made progress on multiple fronts that have helped it boost production and continue raising its expectations for this year. Rivian raised its production guidance to 50,000 early this year and has raised it twice since then.
That number, while more than double what it produced in 2022, is still well below the annual capacity of its normal plant in Illinois. Rivian said the Illinois plant will be able to produce 150,000 electric vehicles per year when fully operational, with plans to increase production to 200,000.
The story develops…