RIDE - Lordstown Motors Q4 expectations updates production forecasts

2023-03-06 08:19:58 ET

Lordstown Motors ( NASDAQ: RIDE ) fell short of Q4 earnings expectations amid a choppy start to Endurance deliveries.

For the fourth quarter, the company reported a $0.45 per share loss, far wider than the $0.24 consensus estimate. Meanwhile, $190K in revenue for the quarter missed expectations by $1.06M. While the company began delivering vehicles in Q4, quality issues have hampered the company’s rollout of its first deliveries.

“Shortly after our January production update, we began to discover and experience several new performance and quality issues with the vehicles coming off the production line and vehicles in process,” management said. “Some of these issues were discovered by us or our suppliers, though some were experienced by our initial customers.As a result, through February 2023, approximately 40 Endurance vehicles have been completed or are in process and we have sold a total of six vehicles, of our planned initial batch of up to 500 units. We now have line of sight to the resolution of the issues that resulted in the production pause and voluntary recalls, and in the upcoming weeks expect to announce when we will resume production and deliveries.”

The company previously flagged these issues in late February . Production struggles were also highlighted in early January , projecting some struggles progressing into the start of fiscal 2023. Further updates on production and deliveries of the Endurance are expected “in the coming weeks,” according to the earnings release. The company will present at the NTEA Work Truck Week in Indianapolis this week and later in the month at SXSW (South-by-Southwest) conference in Austin, Texas.

At the close of 2022, the company held $221.7M in cash and investments. The EV manufacturer expects to close Q1 2023 with $150M to $170M in cash and short-term investments, excluding any additional Foxconn funding.  Foxconn expanded its investment in the automaker in Q4 by $170M.

“Our asset-light business model and collaboration with the Foxconn EV ecosystem, including MIH, will provide the opportunity for Lordstown Motors to create winning EVs that are tailored to the needs of customers that use them for various work applications, while gaining the cost benefits of scale,” CEO Edward Hightower said.

Shares of Lordstown Motors ( RIDE ) traded in a volatile manner after the print, wavering between positive and negative territory.

Read more on the details of the earnings result .

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