Between price wars that have raged throughout 2023, inflation, and surplus inventory, the electric vehicle (EV) market hasn’t been as robust as many investors expected. Granted, the EV market is still growing, just not as rapidly as expected.
Despite headwinds that have slowed competitors, Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN) is one of the few EV makers with momentum heading into 2024, and it just got more great news. Let’s dig in.
AT&T comes calling
One of the more intriguing developments in the second half of 2023 was when Rivian announced it was in negotiations with e-commerce juggernaut Amazon about ending the exclusivity part of its deal.
Originally, Amazon was set to order 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian before 2030, and while that is still the plan, Amazon also filed a smaller-than-anticipated annual order that sparked Rivian to ask about delivering its vans to other consumers.
That’s exactly what happened, and while Amazon remains committed to its large order, the doors are now open for other delivery consumers to purchase fleets of Rivian’s electric van. Up until last week, that was just an intriguing possibility, and management had alluded to the fact that Rivian had been keeping potential customers on the back burner.
Then AT&T came calling, and intriguing potential turned into a real development. While details this early are scarce, especially when it comes to the number of vehicles in the deal, it appears that AT&T will be adding not only Rivian electric vans, but also R1T and R1S models into its fleet to help reduce carbon emissions on its way to reach carbon neutral by 2035.
Setting the stage
After a bumpy 2023 that started with production bottlenecks, Rivian turned in two full-year guidance increases for production and crushed third-quarter financial estimates. Beyond just its financials, the company is creeping closer to introducing its R2 vehicle platform next year, which will reduce prices to as low as $40,000.
If AT&T is just the first of a handful of electric van fleet orders, it could go a long way in convincing investors to jump back on board after the stock was heavily sold off throughout 2023. Rivian plans to accelerate production and deliveries of the van in 2025, and will initially prioritize larger fleet orders such as from Amazon and potentially AT&T or other large companies.
It won’t take much to move the needle in terms of increased demand. Amazon’s order of around 10,000 units checked in on the small side of expectations. If Rivian is able to ink a handful of deals with deliveries starting in 2024 or 2025, even at half the annual size of Amazon’s deal, it would quickly add up for a company that is forecasting production to hit 54,000 for 2023.
Heading into 2024
Rivian is one of only a few EV makers that seem to have momentum going into 2024, and the stage is set for the stock to rally if it can get a little life from the unenthusiastic EV market.
Or Rivian could potentially leave the lackluster EV market behind and surge on its own if it continues to show strong demand for its vehicles, continues to reduce costs, stokes demand with its new leasing program, accelerates production and deliveries with new electric van orders, and makes progress toward being gross-profit positive as it plans for 2024.
Growth in the EV industry has been slower than anticipated in the U.S. market, but Rivian is offering a great opportunity to buy now as it heads into 2024 with momentum and with having shed roughly 75% of its share price since its initial public offering (IPO).
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Daniel Miller has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
More Great News for Rivian Heading Into 2024. Is It a Buy Now? was originally published by The Motley Fool
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