Rivian Q2 2024 Earnings Results (Report Summary) ?

[Electric Rivilution]

Q2 2024 earnings results have been announced:

EPS (adjusted): -$1.13 (vs. estimated -$1.21 )
Revenue: $1.16B (vs estimated $1.14B and $1.12B Q2 2023)
Adjusted EBITA loss: $860M
Cash and cash equivalents: $5.8B
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments: $7.86B (includes $1B VW investment)
Net loss: -$1.4BB (vs $1.2B Q2 2023)

Q2 sales rose 9% to 13,790 vehicles delivered (despite April factory shutdown to retool for lower production costs and to R1 refresh)

- this cost cutting won't be fully reflected until the third quarter.​

- Q2 production costs represents a mix of mostly 2024 model-year vehicles along with some freshened 2025 models with the lower cost structure​

-$32,705 loss on every vehicle delivered in Q2 2024 (vs -$38,798 in Q1 2024 and -$124k per vehicle in Q4 2022).

Rivian reaffirmed production guidance to build 57,000 vehicles in 2024.

Vehicle deliveries are expected to fall slightly in Q3 as Rivian rebuilds its inventory after its April plant shutdown, Scaringe said.

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[Sgt Beavis]

I wish I could attend the earnings call today. I'm looking forward to what RJ has to say.

 

[AllInev]

Leading up to Q2, RJ warned everyone of a "messy" quarter. Well, Rivian delivered on that promise -perhaps overdelivered ?

 

[COdogman]

I see lots of reasons to be optimistic in those numbers. Costs are coming down and sales were up 9% despite the factory retooling in April cutting into that time and every media outlet reporting that "no one wants EVs".

They are heading in the right direction.

 

[tiltedandsaltyaf]

I wish I could attend the earnings call today. I'm looking forward to what RJ has to say.

he pretty much repeats the talking points over and over, it's hard for them to say more than what they've already prepared

Even the Q&A sessions, they acknowledge the question then just repeat their talking points even if it doesn't answer the full question, it's not just Rivian/RJ it's everyone on these calls

 

[foxerson]

Q2 sales rose 9% to 13,790 vehicles delivered (despite April factory shutdown to retool for lower production costs and to R1 refresh)

Sounds like the aggressive incentive programs for purchases and leases to clear pre-refresh inventory were successful. I take it as a good sign that Rivian can pump up sales through incentives just like traditional manufacturers. It shows that there is a market of potential customers that are interested in the product and can be swayed to pull the trigger on a purchase or lease deal.

Vehicle deliveries are expected to fall slightly in Q3 as Rivian rebuilds its inventory after its April plant shutdown, Scaringe said.

And, next quarter the analysts will have forgotten about this warning and will hammer Rivian for underperforming on deliveries compared to Q2.

 

[Schroederhc]

They know what they need to do. It doesn't change much from quarter to quarter until it does. Until then, they make it clear they know what the objective is. It's not like they can just make stuff up.

 

[mkhuffman]

This is the most important information to me:
-$32,705 loss on every vehicle delivered in Q2 2024 (vs -$38,798 in Q1 2024 and -$124k per vehicle in Q4 2022).

I realize loss per vehicle in Q2 includes Gen1. The big question is: what is the loss per Gen2 vehicle? How close are they to actually producing cash for each vehicle produced?

If anyone watched, can you share if this was discussed? It seems like a question investors would ask.

 

[R1TS]

And, exactly how are they trying to achieve positive gross by end of year? Net loss barely changed even with the mix of new gen sales.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

As RJ mentioned previously, they have "several levers they can pull" to boost sales/demand. Seems to have worked fairly well IMO. Incentives like leasing, free stealth upgrades, free or nearly free PTC's to name a few.

With several reports in recent days of battery prices starting to fall and consequently EV MSRP's to match their ICE counterparts in the coming months/year(s), I wonder how this will shape things for the R2, Is the pricing set to allow for a potential consumer level lower MSRP should the battery components drop in price, or is it a long game whereby Rivian needs it to be at the 45k (65k CND) base price point regardless of component cost or lack there of?

I'm sure retooling the factory for an R2 line is going to drive the loss per vehicle sold up.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

And, exactly how are they trying to achieve positive gross by end of year? Net loss barely changed even with the mix of new gen sales.

The loss per vehicle is slightly skewed by the weeks long shut down, with no vehicles being produced, but salaries/overhead still continuing to be paid out.

 

[SANZC02]

Very few G2 sales in Q2 numbers to offset the loss. They also mentioned that 3 items including inventory write downs from old contracts account for ~14k of that 32k number and those write downs should be done in q3.

 

[mkhuffman]

Yes, but they should be able to figure out what their margin per vehicle will be now that they are in production. It is critical for the cost of building a R1 to be less than what they are selling them for. Otherwise, they may as well rebrand as a charity.

From what I understand, Tesla was cash flow positive on a vehicle marginal basis for a long time before they became cash flow positive as a company. It is understandable that capital investments and other expenditures will mean the company is not cash flow positive, but if they are burning cash for every vehicle produced, they will NEVER make it. It is impossible.

So what is it now? I have asked this before, and nobody knows. That is really unacceptable.

They know how much the labor costs to build one. They know how much the parts cost to build one. They know how much it costs to deliver a vehicle to a buyer. It isn't hard.

 

[richpike]

Yes, but they should be able to figure out what their margin per vehicle will be now that they are in production. It is critical for the cost of building a R1 to be less than what they are selling them for. Otherwise, they may as well rebrand as a charity.

From what I understand, Tesla was cash flow positive on a vehicle marginal basis for a long time before they became cash flow positive as a company. It is understandable that capital investments and other expenditures will mean the company is not cash flow positive, but if they are burning cash for every vehicle produced, they will NEVER make it. It is impossible.

So what is it now? I have asked this before, and nobody knows. That is really unacceptable.

They know how much the labor costs to build one. They know how much the parts cost to build one. They know how much it costs to deliver a vehicle to a buyer. It isn't hard.

That's exactly why they're stating they'll have a gross profit in Q4 and have stated that for several quarters now. All the reasons you listed - they know the cost to build one, they know where they are headed, they can estimate their mix. They've been very open and have continually reiterated that. Not sure what else they can do to satisfy what you're asking for.

-Rich

Edit: Lots of additional details in Jose’s article:

https://riviantrackr.com/news/rivian-q2-2024-quarterly-update-megapost/

 

[mkhuffman]

That's exactly why they're stating they'll have a gross profit in Q4 and have stated that for several quarters now. All the reasons you listed - they know the cost to build one, they know where they are headed, they can estimate their mix. They've been very open and have continually reiterated that. Not sure what else they can do to satisfy what you're asking for.

-Rich

Edit: Lots of additional details in Jose’s article:

https://riviantrackr.com/news/rivian-q2-2024-quarterly-update-megapost/

They can add what the margin per vehicle is as of today, and what they yet need to do to make it positive by Q4. They can provide actual data instead just promises.

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