Investing.com — Shares of Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) surged over 24% on Friday, marking its best day since November 2021, as the company exceeded expectations for fourth-quarter deliveries, announcing that a component shortage no longer limits its production.
This marks a significant step forward for the electric vehicle maker as it works toward profitability.
The shortage, which affected parts used in its R1 SUV, R1T pickup trucks, and delivery vans, emerged in the third quarter and led the company to reduce its annual production target in October.
“The previously discussed shortage of a shared component on the R1 and RCV platforms is no longer a constraint on Rivian’s production,” the company said in a statement.
Rivian delivered 14,183 vehicles during the three months ending Dec. 31, surpassing the 13,472 vehicles projected by 15 analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha.
This represented a 42% increase from the previous quarter and was Rivian’s highest quarterly delivery total in over a year, even though Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), its largest investor, typically scales back deliveries in the fourth quarter to prioritize holiday operations.
The company produced 12,727 vehicles in the fourth quarter, exceeding analysts’ estimates of 11,398 units.
For the full year, Rivian manufactured 49,476 vehicles—down about 13% from 2023 but slightly above the revised forecast of 47,000 to 49,000 units.
“With the supplier/component concern in the rearview mirror, the focus will now be on RIVN’s ability to execute on its path toward profitability as we see only modest YoY growth in FY25 ahead of the company’s planned 2026 R2 launch at Normal,” Truist Securities analysts said in a note.
“We’d expect shares to react positively to the print, although we’ll be largely looking ahead to the company’s earnings release in February as we await FY25 guidance/mgmt commentary.”
