Al Root
Lucid Group stock was rising early Wednesday after picking up a new bull on Wall Street.
Benchmark analyst Mickey Legg launched coverage of shares of the maker of luxury electric vehicles with a Buy rating and a $5 price target. Lucid stock closed Tuesday at $2.69. Legg's target price represents a gain of almost 90%.
Shares were up 1.9% in premarket trading following the new call. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down about 0.1%.
Legg sees U.S. EV growth accelerating in 2025 and beyond. Americans bought about 1.3 million all-electric cars in 2024, up from about 1.2 million in 2022. The modest 7% growth decelerated from 46% growth in 2024.
"We view Lucid as well positioned to achieve significant share of this burgeoning opportunity based on its advanced technology, well-stocked balance sheet and access to capital, award-winning vehicles, Saudi investment, partnerships, and highly integrated manufacturing capabilities," wrote Legg.
Entities connected to the Saudi government own almost 60% of Lucid's shares outstanding.
Saudi money has been necessary for Lucid. It's used about $11 billion in cash to build its business so far. Wall Street sees another $7 billion used in 2025 and 2026 combined.
Lucid ended the third quarter with about $5.2 billion in cash and liquidity. It reports fourth-quarter numbers of Feb. 25.
Saudi Arabia also agreed to buy 100,000 Lucid vehicles between 2022 and 2032. Lucid delivered 10,241 EVs around the world in 2024. Lucid doesn't disclose sales regionally, but Saudi Arabia accounted for almost one-quarter of total sales in the first nine months of 2024.
Overall, 13 analysts cover Lucid stock, and only Legg has a Buy rating. There are eight a Hold, and four with Sell ratings. That's a Buy-rating ratio of less than 10%. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%.
The average analyst price target for Lucid stock is about $2.60, according to FactSet.
Coming into Wednesday trading, Lucid stock was down about 25% over the past 12 months. Slowing EV demand growth and more EV competition have sapped some investor enthusiasm for shares of start-ups.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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February 12, 2025 08:16 ET (13:16 GMT)
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