The stock market has been on pins and needles lately, with the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.59%) enduring its second 20% drop in two years. Although the index has recovered admirably in the past month, investors seem to remain on edge, and that showed up in Wednesday's premarket trading. As of 8:30 a.m. ET, Nasdaq futures were down more than 1.5%, adding to the index's more than 2% drop on Tuesday.
Looking more closely at individual stocks, electric truck manufacturer Rivian Automotive (RIVN +1.15%) moved slightly higher after reporting its latest production figures. However, a lot of eyes were on JetBlue Airways (JBLU 1.65%) after it announced yesterday that it would make a play to acquire one of its peers in the airline industry.
Rivian gets moving
Shares of Rivian Automotive were up more than 3% in premarket trading on Wednesday morning. The electric vehicle company gave its latest production and delivery figures and offered some reassurance about its future prospects.
Rivian reported that it produced 2,553 vehicles at its manufacturing facility in Illinois during the first quarter of 2022. That number was in line with its expectations, and Rivian also said that it delivered 1,227 of those vehicles between the beginning of January and the end of March.
NASDAQ: RIVN
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Moreover, Rivian anticipated potential concerns among shareholders about its plans for the rest of 2022. The automaker sees itself as well positioned to reach its production target of 25,000 vehicles for the full year. That would require an average of roughly 2,500 vehicles per month for the rest of the year.
Investors should recall, though, that Rivian's 25,000 vehicle target was quite disappointing when the company first revealed it in its latest financial results in early March. Supplier constraints kept Rivian from achieving a run rate closer to 50,000 vehicles, and it'll be important for the automaker to demonstrate its ability to keep ramping up production to keep customers happy and pent-up demand strong.
Image source: Getty Images.
JetBlue loses more altitude
Meanwhile, JetBlue shares were down another 5% in premarket trading Wednesday morning, following a 7% drop on Tuesday. Investors apparently aren't comfortable with the airline's efforts to make a play for one of its rivals on the acquisition front.
In news that got leaked before the close of regular trading on Tuesday, JetBlue made a bid to buy discount carrier Spirit Airlines. The offer valued Spirit at $3.6 billion and would pay shareholders $33 in cash for each Spirit share they own.
NASDAQ: JBLU
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The move came almost two months after Frontier Group Holdings made its own bid for Spirit. Frontier's bid was primarily in the form of equity, with Spirit shareholders to get 1.9126 shares of Frontier and $2.13 in cash per share for their stock. That represented a combined value of $25.83 per share at the time.
Both JetBlue and Frontier see the value that Spirit would bring in trying to build scale to compete more effectively against the four biggest airlines in the U.S. market. Yet with airlines facing new challenges from high fuel costs as they try to recover from the pandemic, JetBlue shareholders are far from certain about how successful the acquisition strategy might be.
