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Blame Everything Except Lucid for the Stock’s 2021 Slide

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Shareholders in Lucid (NASDAQ:LCID) started 2021 on a bright note. And LCID stock kept up the momentum for most of the year.

The Lucid Motors (LCID) Plant in Arizona.
The Lucid Motors (LCID) Plant in Arizona.

Source: Around the World Photos / Shutterstock.com

LCID stock surged last November on news that the first Lucid Air EVs had been delivered to customers. Stellar reviews of Lucid’s first production EV also didn’t hurt. However, some of those gains were given back after the excitement was over and LCID remained relatively flat through this past December.

Starting in January 2022, LCID stock began to rally. By January 11, it closed at $45.47 for a 19.5% gain since the start of the year. Naturally, investors were thrilled.

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They’re likely less impressed by its performance since. Currently sitting at around $35, LCID stock is down more than 20% from that January 11 close. In fact, it’s worth less than it was at the end of 2021.

Time to panic? I don’t think so. As I’ll attempt to explain, most of the factors that have been hurting Lucid stock aren’t about Lucid at all.

Market Concerns About Many Issues

Let’s start off with the very broad strokes.

Worry that Russia might invade Ukraine and kick off a war in Europe. Two years after the pandemic first began there is ongoing worry about Omicron’s continued death toll in the U.S and other countries. North Korea has begun firing off test missiles. The global shortage of semiconductors is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. In addition, inflation and interest rates are on the rise while crypto currencies have been tanking.

All of these big issues — none of which are specific to Lucid — have roiled the stock market in recent weeks.

On Monday, EV stocks in general took a big hit as a result of this uncertainty. LCID stock was down more than 6%, but virtually every EV stock was feeling the pain — even industry leader Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).

Telsa On Their Mind

Speaking of Tesla, the big dog (or is that doge?) EV maker is set to report Q4 and full year 2021 earnings after the bell on January 26.

It’s likely that LCID stock has felt the impact of speculation about what Tesla will report. Unfortunately, Lucid is in a bit of a “lose-lose” situation on this one. If Tesla reports big sales gains and issues guidance that points to further increases in 2022, there are naturally fears that some of those sales will come at the expense of Lucid. There are only so many people buying luxury EVs, after all.

On the other had, if Tesla reports that sales are slowing and/or the company issues lower than expected guidance for 2022, that is also a concern for LCID stock. Tesla is the dominant EV maker and serves as a bellwhether for the industry.