Despite the hype from the initial public offering (IPO) era and the backing of one of the richest entities in the world, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), Lucid (NASDAQ: LCID), hasn’t exactly been eponymous with strong stock market performance.
At its press time price of $2.41, LCID is 75.53% in the red in the all-time chart, 96.28% below its February 17, 2021, all-time high (ATH) of $64.86, and 20.36% down in 2025.
Despite such abysmal performance and despite failing to maintain the February bullish momentum, Lucid just received a high-profile rating upgrade which translated into an 11% early session rally by press time on March 18.
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Lucid stock receives rating upgrade from Morgan Stanley
On the morning of March 18, Morgan Stanley’s (NYSE: MS) Adam Jonas issued a note explaining that despite keeping the previous $3 price target – 24.48% upside from press time – he is changing the stock’s rating from ‘underweight’ – sell – to ‘equalweight’ – hold. As Jonas explained:
“Following the announced/ongoing changes in leadership, we believe Lucid has opportunity to execute an AI strategy leveraging strategic/sovereign partnerships within the context of the urgency to develop onshore manufacturing capacity for BEVs as the ‘socket’ for the AI ‘brain’. Price target unchanged at $3, Bull Case to $10, upgrade to Equal-weight.
The reassessment was triggered by a set of changes among Lucid’s higher-ups, including the change of CEO and new management that Benchmark’s Mickey Legg found impressive enough to rate LCID as a ‘buy.’
Jonas also noted the electric vehicle (EV) maker’s increasing involvement with artificial intelligence (AI) as a major positive factor while opining that its unique position could help it develop partnerships and expand its business both in the West and China.
He concluded that Lucid’s situation is now more balanced, with the risks to the upside reaching equilibrium with the risks to the downside. Despite keeping the $3 LCID stock price target, he estimated that the bull case for Lucid shares could take them as high as $10 for a 314.94% rally.
Analysts remain ‘neutral’ on Lucid despite multi-year bloodbath
Lastly, it is also noteworthy that, in spite of Lucid Motors’ stock market performance, the company’s overall promise and the fact that the PIF backs it have so far staved off the ‘sell’ ratings.
Out of the 17 analyst ratings assigned to LCID in the last three months, as many as 10 experts elected to remain neutral, per the data Finbold retrieved from TradingView on March 18.
Furthermore, as many as three analysts believe Lucid shares are a ‘buy’ – only one fewer than the number of ‘sell’ ratings.
Featured image via Shutterstock
