A Lot Of "Free Advertising" For EVs Coming Out Of The White House -- How Are They Doing? March 10, 2022

I track EVs here.

From an earlier post:

It appears the White House, via the press secretary, is telling Americans:

• it's going to get worse ...
• it's going to stay worse for a long time ...
• cardigan sweaters won't work this time ... 
  
• the high price of gasoline is due to Russia invading Ukraine ...
• the answer to the high price of oil is more renewable energy ...
• to transition to renewable energy we need Saudi Arabia to produce more oil ...
• until Saudi Arabia produces more oil, we need to release more crude oil from the SPR ...
• those folks driving Teslas do not have to worry about the high price of gasoline ...

So, I was curious. With all this "free advertising" I was curious how the EVs were doing. But instead of looking at Tesla, I looked at the other three first: RIVN, LCID, and RIDE.

Today:

• RIVN: down over 6%; down almost $3; closed at $41 vs 52-week high of $180;
• LCID: down over 4%; down over $1; closed at $24 vs 52-week high of $58;
• RIDE: flat today; closed at $2.34 vs 52-week high of $18;

And then this story from Bloomberg: Rivian's $117 billion wipeout has turned some into skeptics -- Wall Street’s embrace of Rivian Automotive Inc., last year’s electric-vehicle startup darling, is waning already as the company has lost about $117 billion in market value in just four months.

Analysts are paring back their expectations for this once-hyped stock ahead of Rivian’s fourth-quarter results, which are due after the market close on Thursday. At least four analysts have lowered their price targets this month by an average of 40%.

So, I was curious. Are these three "different" than Tesla?

So, let's check TSLA.

TSLA closed down 2.4%; closed down $21; closed at $838;

• after hours, closed down another 0.75%, down another $6.
• TSLA's 52-week high is $1,243.

So, all this "free advertising" and incredibly high gasoline prices, investors are very, very skeptical about EVs, not just the newest, smallest startup. 

My hunch: high commodity prices are going to mess with margins for these EV manufacturers.