Shares of Rivian Automotive Fell Due to Problems 

Shares of Rivian Automotive dropped 10% in after-hours trading on Thursday. The company’s shares fell after CEO RJ Scaringe and other executives reported a surge in customer reservations but cut vehicle production expectations for the year.

The company said it expects to fall “a few hundred vehicles short” of its 2021 production target of 1,200 vehicles. Rivian said it faced supply chain issues and challenges ramping up production of the complex batteries that power the vehicles. 

The updates come alongside the company’s first quarterly report as a public company. As a reminder, Rivian went public through a blockbuster IPO in November. It was the first carmaker to go to the consumer market with an all-electric pickup truck called the R1T. 

Rivian also made an important announcement. It plans to build a new battery and assembly plant in Georgia. Rivian’s new plant is expected to facilitate the production of up to 400,000 vehicles per year.

The company from California said total reservations for its electric R1T pickup and RS1 SUV increased to 71,000 as of December 15. Rivian produced 652 R1T and R1S vehicles. Out of 652, Rivian delivered 386 vehicles. 

Rivian and its results 

Its third-quarter results fell in-line with Wall Street revenue expectations. Importantly, for the third quarter of the year, it reported an operational loss of $776 million and a net loss of $1.23 billion. Rivian previously predicted an operational loss between $745 million and $795 million. It also predicted a net loss between $1.21 billion and $1.28 billion.

Rivian, whose stakeholders include Amazon as well as Ford Motor, posted a loss per share of $12.11 on revenue of about $1 million. Analysts expected Rivian to report a $5.52 earnings per share loss on revenue of $1 million.