What Happened?
Shares of electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) jumped 11% in the morning session after the company reported third-quarter results that surpassed analyst estimates for both revenue and earnings. The company posted an adjusted loss of $0.65 per share, which was narrower than the anticipated loss of $0.71. Revenue for the period jumped 78.3% year-over-year to $1.56 billion, also beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion, driven by the delivery of 13,201 vehicles. Investors also reacted positively to a significant improvement in profitability, as the company's gross margin turned positive at 1.5% for the first time, a notable turnaround from negative 44.9% in the same quarter last year. While the report was mixed, with adjusted EBITDA missing expectations, the market appeared to focus on the strong top-line growth and narrowing losses.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Rivian’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 34 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Rivian and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 1 day ago when the stock dropped 3.6% on the news that markets became increasingly wary of high valuations following a significant AI-driven rally.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell approximately 1.4% as a wave of caution swept through the market. A key example of this trend is Palantir Technologies, which saw its shares drop around 7% despite reporting record quarterly results that surpassed analyst estimates and raising its full-year revenue outlook. This seemingly contradictory movement highlighted a broader sentiment shift. Investors appeared to be engaging in profit-taking, concerned that the recent surge in AI-related stocks had led to stretched valuations. This broader market caution affected high-growth technology companies that had previously surged on AI optimism but faced increased scrutiny, signaling a potential cooling-off period for the sector. Adding serious weight to this caution, leadership at both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley highlighted the possibility of a correction in the equity markets over the next couple of years. Despite the euphoria driven by AI optimism and the promise of future rate cuts, these banks viewed this cooling-off period not as a disaster, but as a necessary and healthy feature of a long-term bull market.
Rivian is up 14.8% since the beginning of the year, but at $15.22 per share, it is still trading 10.1% below its 52-week high of $16.92 from May 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Rivian’s shares at the IPO in November 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $151.05.
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