LCID: Lucid Stock Defies Bear Market with 9% Pop on Bullish Wall Street Upgrade

Shares advanced to $2.35 a piece after Morgan Stanley analysts shifted the luxury car maker’s rating to Equal Weight from Underweight.

💰 Lucid Shares Rise 9%

• Lucid stock LCID popped 9% to $2.35 on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley analysts expressed some bullish sentiment over its growth prospects. The banking giant upgraded its stance on Lucid to Equal Weight from Underweight (the equivalent of Hold from the equivalent of Sell).
• The investment firm’s analysts didn’t change their target price of $3 but said that artificial intelligence can turn out to be a nice bullish case for the luxury EV maker. “Lucid has the opportunity to execute an AI strategy, leveraging strategic/sovereign partnerships within the context of the urgency to develop onshore manufacturing capacity.”

⌛ Stock Down 22% This Year

• No price target tweaks come at a time when Lucid shares have been rocked back and forth. At its last earnings update, CEO Peter Rawlinson (former Tesla chief) said he’s leaving the top spot after a 5-year tenure at the helm. The news didn’t sit well with some investors who got anxious over the company’s outlook.
• Year to date, Lucid is down 22% to trade at a market cap of $7 billion. Frankly, some meme stocks carry a bigger weight out there, making Lucid an easy target for opportunistic day traders who feed on volatility.

📝 Few Things to Consider

• Fundamentally, the company is reliant on funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which controls a majority stake. But the harsh reality is that Lucid is buried in debt and losses and reeling itself out of that hole would take a lot of financial muscle. In 2024, losses hit $3 billion, up 11%, to a total of $13 billion.
• One thing keeping investors in is the company’s new management and its approach to AI. With Marc Winterhoff as the new CEO, investors will be looking to find out if he will tap AI for Lucid’s advanced driver assistance features.