What’s up with Rivian?

When electric automaker Rivian went public in Nov. 2021, it briefly became the world’s third most-valuable car company after Tesla and Toyota.

But the company’s stock has fallen back to Earth, with shares down ~90% since the spike.

What’s happening? This week, Rivian reported revenue and guidance that fell below analysts’ already-modest hopes, as well as losses that totaled $6.8B last year.

• Rivian’s Q4 revenue totaled $663m, below forecasts of $742m.
• In 2023, it hopes to deliver 50k vehicles, below Wall Street’s goals for 60k.

Like other EV startups, Rivian faces supply chain road bumps, high costs for battery materials, growing competition, and price cuts from Tesla.

For investors, a big question is whether Rivian will be able to deliver on its promises to customers in a timely manner, or risk losing them to competition.

This week wasn’t all a bumpy ride for Rivian, though. A new JD Power EV customer satisfaction survey placed the Rivian R1T at the top spot — the first time a non-Tesla has won the title since the survey began.