Lucid stock tanking as EV-maker announces share sale ahead of SUV launch

Lucid Motors (LCID) stock is sliding after the EV-maker announced another capital raise via a share sale late Wednesday night, as the California-based EV maker seeks further runway ahead of the release of its upcoming EV SUV.

Lucid said it will offer up to 262,446,931 shares, with the proceeds likely raising around $1.67 billion, for general corporate purposes as well as for capital expenditures and working capital.

The company also said its majority shareholder, Public Investment Fund affiliate Ayar Third Investment Company, would purchase an additional 374,717,927 shares via a private placement, which would allow Ayar to maintain its 58.8% stake without dilution.

As a result of these moves, Lucid stock slid 16% in midday trade.

The stock offerings come only two months after Ayar gave Lucid a cash infusion of around $1.5 billion.

In addition, Lucid filed preliminary third quarter financial results, with a loss from operations expected in the range of $765 million to $790 million for the quarter, similar to the $790 million lost in Q2. Third quarter revenue is expected in a range of $199 million to $200 million, ahead of estimates of $196.4 million, as compiled by Bloomberg,

Lucid also said it had approximately $1.9 billion in cash and equivalents, with total liquidity of $4 billion prior to the capital raise.

Last week, Lucid said it delivered 2,781 vehicles during the quarter, beating Bloomberg estimates, but its 1,805 cars produced missed what the Street was expecting.

Lucid hopes its upcoming Gravity SUV, expected to begin production later this year, will jumpstart sales by a significant margin.

“We believe that the total addressable market for Gravity is six times that of Lucid Air,” Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said in an interview with Yahoo Finance in August.

Rawlinson said the company will eventually have capacity at its Arizona plant to build 90,000 Gravity SUVs per year.

The big question will be whether Lucid can build the Gravity SUV efficiently and come in below cost. The Gravity is expected to start around $80,000 in the US, right at the eligibility threshold for the federal EV tax credit.

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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