Lucid Stock Rises. Numbers Weren’t Great.

EV start-up Lucid reported earnings Wednesday evening. Through Wednesday trading, Lucid stock was down about 43% year to date. (Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)

Key Points

• Lucid reported a third-quarter per-share loss of $3.31 on sales of $336.6 million, missing analyst expectations.
• The company’s third-quarter gross profit margin improved to negative 280% from negative 385% a year ago.
• Lucid revised its full-year production guidance to approximately 18,000 cars, down from a previous range of 18,000 to 20,000.

Lucid shares rose after the electric vehicle maker reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter numbers on Wednesday evening.

Despite the post-earnings gains, it’s hard to be an EV start-up these days.

Lucid announced a third-quarter per share loss of $3.31 from sales of $336.6 million. Wall Street was looking for a per-share loss of $2.32 from sales of $350 million.

Shares were down in after-hours trading on Wednesday, but recovered on Thursday. Lucid stock closed up 4.2% at $17.96, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.1% and 0.8%, respectively.

Lucid shares gained 5.4% during Wednesday’s regular session, perhaps helped by Rivian . Its shares soared 23% after reporting better than expected third-quarter gross profit margins on Tuesday evening.

Lucid’s gross profit margin improved, too. It is still weak, though. Lucid generated a third-quarter gross profit margin of negative 280%, better than the negative 385% margin a year ago.

Lucid still doesn’t have the sales volume to generate positive profits. It sold 4,078 vehicles in the third quarter, up from 2,781 sold in the third quarter of 2024. Higher sales volume did lead to higher revenue. The $336.6 million in sales was up 68% year over year.

For the year, Lucid now expects to make about 18,000 cars. The prior guidance was for 18,000 to 20,000. Lucid built about 10,000 cars in the first three quarters of the year, leaving about 8,000 to make in the third quarter.

Wall Street isn’t sure all those cars will get sold. Analysts estimate full-year sales volumes of about 16,000 vehicles.

Lucid still has about $5.5 billion in total liquidity available to it. It’s expected to use that much cash in 2026 and 2027, combined, to build its business.

Along with earnings, Lucid announced some management changes. Emad Dlala has been appointed senior vice president, engineering and digital. It is an expanded role for him. Erwin Raphael has been elevated to senior vice president, revenue. And Marnie Levergood has been appointed senior vice president, quality.

Through Thursday’s close, Lucid stock was down about 41% year to date. Below-expected sales growth and changing U.S. EV policies have weighed on investor sentiment.

As for policy, U.S. car buyers recently lost the federal $7,500 EV purchase tax credit. It expired in September. Some Lucid models were too expensive to qualify for the credit, but leased vehicles qualified for the credit, no matter the cost of the car.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com