Despite the massive backing from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), numerous partnerships aimed at revitalizing the business, and the high hopes for the Gravity model, Lucid Motors’ (NASDAQ: LCID) stock performance can, at best, be described as lackluster.
Specifically, having significantly underperformed the promises made during its initial public offering (IPO), the electric vehicle (EV) maker struggled through 2024, ending the year 27.23% in the red at $3.02.
The start of 2025 did not prove much better and the shares are just barely in the green since January 2 – the first trading day of the year – having recorded a 0.17% rise to their press time price of $3.03.
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Wall Street remains uncertain about Lucid stock
Still, it appears that between the strong backing from one of the wealthiest entities on the planet and a disappointing business performance, Wall Street experts have opted to, on average, remain neutral about LCID stock.
The embattled EV maker boasts a single ‘buy,’ two ‘sell,’ and as many as 6 ‘hold’ ratings on the stock analysis platform TipRanks, per the data retrieved on January 14. The average 12-month price target for the company is similarly tepid as it stands at $2.91 – 4.28% below the press time price.
Furthermore, the street high forecasts – and the only incumbent ‘buy’ rating – which was assigned by R. F. Lafferty on November 11, does not predict stellar gainst for LCID shares as it estimates a 32% rise to $4 over 52 weeks.
2025 brings fresh downgrades for LCID shares
The Street low, however, is significantly more dire than even the consensus data shows as, on January 6, CFRA’s Garrett Nelson lowered his rating of Lucid stock from ‘sell’ to ‘strong sell’ and placed his price forecast as low as $1 – 67% below the press time price.
The primary concern expressed by Nelson is the EV maker’s exceptionally high cash burn rate, particularly when paired with low demand for Lucid vehicles even after a string of price cuts which are likely to worsen the balance further.
Though not as dire as CFRA’s, other January revisions have been far from bullish. On January 7, Morgan Stanley’s (NYSE: MS) Adam Jonas reiterated his ‘sell’ rating for LCID stock while placing the target at $3.
Jonas quoted the removal of some EV incentives, as well as the high price of Lucid vehicles, when he first assigned the $3 forecast, though, interestingly, he also opined that the Saudi-backed company will not be hit as hard as its competitors and could experience a resurgence from the new Gravity model.
Also, on January 7, Andreas Sheppard from Cantor Fitzgerald opted for the exact same price forecast for Lucid shares but with a ‘hold’ rating. Cantor’s original LCID stock downgrade to ‘neutral’ came when Gravity became available for pre-order.
At the time, the general cautious analyst optimism about the SUV was dampened by the car’s high price point and sluggish production schedule.
Featured image via Shutterstock
