What happened

Stocks in the electric vehicle (EV) sector have been under pressure recently as investors shunned risk and sought out safer assets. Today, EV stocks including Rivian Automotive (RIVN -3.62%), ChargePoint Holdings (CHPT -2.33%), and Hyzon Motors (HYZN -2.56%) started to buck that trend with early gains. But they reversed course midway through the trading day. After being higher by between 3.5% and 5%, Rivian, ChargePoint, and Hyzon lost much of those gains. As of 1:32 p.m. ET, Rivian and ChargePoint shares were up just 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively. Hyzon stock was down 5.2%. 

So what

Many investors have fled speculative EV stocks recently as raw material costs rise and the potential for profitability seems to be moving further into the future. But Rivian shares reversed that trend earlier this week after the company reported it produced 7,363 EVs in the third quarter. That's compared to 4,401 produced in the second quarter and just 2,553 in the first quarter of 2022. At that rate of growth, many analysts became more optimistic that Rivian would meet its full-year production target for 25,000 units. 

Rivian will need to grow that production to nearly 10,700 vehicles in the fourth quarter to meet its target. But several analysts think that is likely to happen, and have come out this week with notes saying they expect Rivian stock to be worth between $60 and $62 per share, according to a CNBC report. A $60 stock price would be an increase of 66% from yesterday's closing share price. 

The analysts who updated reports on Rivian this week include Adam Jonas from Morgan Stanley, Canaccord Genuity's George Gianarikas, and Royal Bank of Canada's Joseph Spak. Today's report highlighting those positive ratings likely helped the stock jump in early trading today. But investor appetite for these risky stocks waned again this morning, knocking the stocks back down. 

Now what

ChargePoint and Hyzon are also both trying to ramp up their businesses toward profitability as the adoption of EVs expands. But that's proving more difficult to do for many companies in the current inflationary environment. Even as investors have moved on from many of these stocks, however, the companies push forward. 

ChargePoint just announced new software-driven charging hardware for businesses and fleet owners in the European market. Its new CP6000 is designed for flexibility with multiple power phases and a range of adaptable output per charging port, according to the company. The new offering also easily handles upgrades, and can be customized for various configurations for multiple use cases and geographical regions. 

But the market isn't giving any EV company too much credit right now as less risky assets are what they seek. Even a jump at the start of today's trading didn't hold in this investing environment.