REUTERS/Caitlin O’Hara
- Lucid Motors stock still has a long way to go but the firm could soon be valued like its rivals.
- “I think the sky’s the limit in terms of valuation, but it’s all about execution,” CEO Peter Rawlinson told CNBC.
- Lucid’s market cap is now $87 billion, topping Ford’s $79.4 billion but still far below Tesla’s roughly $1 trillion.
Lucid Motors stock still has a long way to go, but the electric vehicle maker could soon be valued like incumbent rivals, its executives told CNBC Tuesday.
“I feel great about our stock price,” CFO Sherry House told CNBC. “The run-up that we’ve had, where it is today and also the growth trajectory, frankly, that’s in front of us. I see that we’re being regarded as a technology company with a platform that’s extensible across lots of vehicle variants and sustainable tech.”
For CEO Peter Rawlinson, a former chief engineer of the Model S under Tesla’s Elon Musk, this is just the beginning. A mechanical engineer by training, he joined Lucid as CTO in 2013 and became CEO in 2019.
“I think the sky’s the limit in terms of valuation, but it’s all about execution,” Rawlinson told CNBC. “It’s all about execution. It’s all about scaling volume. And that’s my focus. And I think the share price lookup is a result.”
Lucid stock surged 21% Tuesday after the luxury EV maker reported growing demand and backed its production target for 2022.
In its first quarterly results since going public in July, the company tallied 13,000 customer reservations in the third quarter, representing approximately $1.3 billion in business. And since the quarter ended, reservations have grown to 17,000. Management also confirmed late Monday its earlier goal of producing 20,000 EVs next year.
Lucid’s market cap is now roughly $87 billion, surpassing Ford‘s $79 billion, after going public just four months ago via a SPAC deal. Still, it is far from Tesla‘s roughly $1 trillion market valuation this year.
Rawlinson, who often pits Tesla and Lucid against each other, touted his firm’s new vehicles. MotorTrend on Monday named the Lucid Air as the “Car of the Year,” a prestigious award in the automotive industry.
“I think the world recognizes we’ve got an amazing product,” he told CNBC. “I think everyone realizes what I’ve been promising would be the best car in the world. It’s true. It’s happened.”