Electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) can enjoy one piece of supposedly positive news. Reportedly, a judge dismissed a fraud-related lawsuit against Lucid. Feel free to take a moment to celebrate this, if you’d like. Then, re-focus on the company’s financials and you’ll surely be convinced to steer clear of LCID stock.
For two years, Lucid Group has rewarded some short-term shareholders with lucky timing. There have been many others, however, who either lost money or are underwater in their Lucid investment.
Will 2023 bring a huge turnaround for the company and its stakeholders? Don’t hold your breath. Unless something miraculous happens this year, it will probably be the same company with the same problems, or maybe even worse.
| LCID | Lucid Group | $8.83 |
What’s Happening with LCID Stock?
It’s another dreary week for LCID stock as it continues to stay under $10 regardless of Lucid Group’s relentless self-promotion. At this point, regaining the $55 level looks like a pipe dream.
In order to be fair and balanced, we can’t only discuss the bad news concerning Lucid Group. Yet, it’s difficult to find anything positive about the company.
Still, at least the shareholders can celebrate the report that a judge in Oakland, Calif., dismissed a lawsuit against Lucid.
There could still be reputational damage, though. The lawsuit, according to Reuters, alleged that Lucid Group defrauded “investors in the special-purpose acquisition company [Churchill Capital Corp. IV] that helped take it public, by significantly overstating its production outlook.”
Legal consequences pertaining to this have apparently been avoided for now, but the allegation might still leave a bad taste in prospective investors’ mouths.
So Far, Lucid Group Is Still a Financial Failure
None of the foregoing negates the fact that Lucid Group has been unprofitable quarter after quarter. Analysts, furthermore, expect Lucid to post an earnings loss of 43 cents per share for 2022’s fourth quarter. That would be a dire result, to say the least.
And get this: Lucid Group has a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of almost 42x. Anything in the double digits should set off alarm bells for value investors. When the P/S ratio gets above 40x, it’s a glaring red flag.
What about Lucid’s vehicle delivery figures? They can’t be all that great if the company is offering sizable price discounts. Even after those discounts, though, Lucid Group’s EVs are still prohibitively expensive.
Plus, despite all of the hype surrounding Lucid Group, the automaker only delivered 4,369 vehicles in all of 2022. Remember, Lucid has to compete against automotive giants with much deeper capital reserves.
Comparatively speaking, Lucid Group looks like a small, insignificant fish in a huge pond full of aggressive, much bigger fish.
What You Can Do Now
Sure, Lucid Group’s fans can enjoy a moment of celebration as the company dodged a legal bullet this time. Fraud allegations are still off-putting to cautious investors, though, and reputational damage could linger for a while.
Moreover, Lucid Group sells EVs that are too pricey for many people’s budgets, and frankly, the company hasn’t sold very many of them so far. It’s sensible, therefore, to refrain from buying LCID stock as the company’s story hasn’t really improved.
On the date of publication, neither Louis Navellier nor the InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article held (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.