Shares of Lucid Group (LCID 2.63%) were losing momentum early in the year, but not many expected the stock to fall so much so soon. An unexpected turn of events sent the electric vehicle (EV) stock plunging 19.6% in February, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Lucid stock has now lost almost 30% value so far in 2025, as of this writing.
Lucid reported strong numbers, but its CEO also quit
After announcing a new chief financial officer in January, Lucid announced another major change at the top level in February. Alongside its fourth-quarter and full-year numbers on Feb. 25, Lucid announced the abrupt departure of its CEO Peter Rawlinson and replaced him with Marc Winterhoff as the interim CEO until the company finds a new CEO.
The top management rejig overshadowed Lucid’s numbers and sent the stock crashing by double digits in one week. Lucid’s revenue surged 49% year over year in Q4. It delivered 3,099 vehicles versus 1,734 units in Q4 2023. Lucid also narrowed its fourth-quarter net loss to $0.22 per share from $0.29 per share, and ended the quarter with $4 billion in cash and short-term investments.
Above all, after a mere 7% growth in production in 2024, Lucid expects to more than double its production to 20,000 units in 2025 as it ramps up the production of Gravity SUV. Lucid began Gravity deliveries in December.
Why Lucid stock keeps falling
Although Lucid’s numbers look good, investors aren’t willing to bet on the EV stock just yet for several reasons.
First, Lucid’s production has been choppy so far, so investors want to wait and watch how the company fares this year, more so with a new leader at the helm. Second, President Trump’s moves to suspend the previous government’s funding for clean energy projects, including the build-out of EV charging networks, could make it tougher for EV companies to grow. During its Q4 earnings conference call, Lucid’s management acknowledged that the “industry faces a number of uncertainties with regard to potential policy and regulation changes in the U.S.”
Third, we do not know yet how profitable Gravity will be, as the company hasn’t shared the split in its gross profit between its Air sedan and the Gravity SUV. Lucid, though, is hugely optimistic about Gravity and expects its gross margin to improve significantly in 2025.
These are just a few factors that appear to have hit the investor sentiment in Lucid stock. With Redburn Atlantic analyst Tobias Beith also slashing the EV stock’s price target to $1.13 per share from $3 a share last month ahead of earnings and analysts from Bank of America cutting its price target to $1 a share from $3 per share after earnings, shares of Lucid kept falling through the month and have lost another 4% value in March.
Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Neha Chamaria has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bank of America. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
