Last week, electric vehicle (EV) maker Rivian Automotive (RIVN 6.10%) released its third-quarter report. The highlights include better-than-expected revenue and earnings, a raise of 2023 annual production guidance by 2,000 vehicles to 54,000 total units, and the end of its commercial van exclusivity agreement with Amazon.
Revenue was $1.34 billion, up 149% from the year-ago period and up 19% from the prior quarter. Growth was primarily driven by the 15,564 vehicles delivered in the quarter, up 23% from the second quarter. Adjusted net loss was $1.13 billion, or $1.19 per share, a 24% improvement from the year-ago period. Wall Street was looking for an adjusted loss of $1.33 per share on revenue of $1.31 billion, so Rivian beat both expectations.
Earnings releases tell only part of the story. Here are three key things management shared on Rivian's Q3 earnings call that investors should know.
1. A new market opens up: Electric vans for businesses
From CEO RJ Scaringe's remarks:
We have amended our Amazon agreement with terms and conditions, which provide the opportunity to sell commercial vans to other customers. ... We are confident in the value of our vans, software and services offerings can provide fleet customers and are in active discussions with a number of large potential fleet customers to launch pilot programs. It's important to appreciate that the sales cycle for commercial vans typically begins with lower volume pilot programs.
First, a note on nomenclature: Rivian uses the term "electric delivery vehicles" (EDVs) for its vans made for Amazon, whose initial order was for 100,000 units. (As of the end of the third quarter, the company had delivered more than 10,000 EDVs to Amazon.) The general term it uses for these vehicles, however, is "Rivian commercial van," or RCV.
The obvious positive for Rivian of this news is that it opens up a new market and revenue source for the company, which will initially limit its RCV sales to companies in the United States. But there's another reason this is good news for Rivian: Its electric vans are more profitable than its vehicles for consumers, which include the R1T (pickup truck) and R1S (SUV), as CFO Claire McDonough noted on the earnings call.
On the call, Scaringe said Rivian has received a lot of interest in its RCVs from diverse companies, ranging from last-mile delivery operators to retailers to various other commercial and industrial companies. Moreover, he said Rivian "will be announcing soon a range of different pilot programs that will precede much larger orders as these large fleets start to plan the electrification of their infrastructure." (Emphasis added.)
2. Launching a leasing program
From Scaringe's remarks:
Later this quarter, we plan to launch our leasing platform on select R1T vehicles in certain regions. We look forward to offering this as a new way for our customers to take delivery of [a] Rivian and plan to expand the lease offering to additional regions across more vehicles as the program matures.
The launch of the leasing platform is a particular plus in today's macro environment. Interest rates are high, which tends to make leasing a vehicle, rather than buying one via an auto loan, a more attractive option for some consumers.
3. High customer engagement
From Scaringe's remarks:
This past quarter, we pushed major over-the-air updates, which improve ride quality, enhance the towing experience, and offer customers a new way to interact with the different drive modes. Over 90% of our customers update their software within five days of it becoming available.
The statistic Scaringe mentioned indicates that owners of Rivian vehicles have a high level of engagement with the company's software. High levels of engagement with any product tend to increase brand loyalty, which leads to repeat buying.
Rivian views its software capabilities as a "structural differentiator that will only grow in importance as electric vehicles continue to increase in complexity," as Wassym Bensaid, senior VP of software development, said in the company's second-quarter earnings call.
