Shares of electric vehicle (EV)-maker Lucid Group (LCID 4.69%) were trading lower on Monday, as Wall Street awaited new economic data after last week's sell-off. As of 11:00 a.m. ET, Lucid's shares were down about 4.7% from Friday's closing price.
Last week's solid earnings haven't helped Lucid's stock
Lucid's stock has been gyrating since the company' reported earnings on Aug. 5, immediately following that day's abrupt market sell-off.
The timing was unfortunate for Lucid as it had some good news to announce: Revenue was better than Wall Street had expected, the company's inventories are coming down nicely, and Lucid's majority shareholder, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), agreed to pony up another $1.5 billion in funding.
That additional cash should be enough to extend the company's runway to the end of 2025. Between now and then, Lucid should be able to launch its next model -- a big electric luxury SUV called Gravity -- and make substantial progress on the midsize model it aims to launch in a couple of years.
Lucid expects to begin production of its Gravity SUV by the end of this year. Image source: Lucid Group.
A recession -- or more inflation -- could derail Lucid's plans
Both of those efforts depend on finding enough buyers for Lucid's upscale EVs. Any economic forces that discourage consumers and businesses from buying new vehicles -- inflation, higher interest rates, an economic slowdown -- could become a big problem for the money-losing automaker.
Given Lucid's still-short cash runway and the recession fears that were raised by economic data earlier this month, it's not hard to see why investors and traders might be jittery about holding the stock as we await a fresh round of economic data points later in the week.
