Lucid Dips Its Toes in Driverless Vehicles, But Is the Stock a Buy Now?

2025 hasn't exactly been an easy year for electric vehicle (EV) makers, including Lucid (NASDAQ: LCID). The automaker is on a couple of different streaks, one good and one not so good. On the bright side, Lucid has posted seven consecutive quarters of record deliveries. But on the downside, the EV maker has fallen short of Wall Street earnings estimates for two quarters in a row. Here's a look at key figures, where Lucid goes from here, and takeaways for investors.

By the numbers

It's not easy out there for EV makers right now, as they deal with the whipsaw effect on demand from the Trump administration's removal of the $7,500 U.S. federal EV tax credit in September. Despite strong third-quarter demand and record deliveries driving a 68% increase in revenue, its $336.6 million fell short of Wall Street estimates calling for $379.1 million, per LSEG. Lucid's adjusted loss per share checked in at $2.65, worse than the $2.27 per share loss estimated by Wall Street.

Another important takeaway for investors was Lucid agreeing to increase a delayed draw term loan credit facility from $750 million up to roughly $2 billion from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which is the company's largest shareholder. While this is partly good news as it extends the company's financial runway into the first half of 2027, it also signals that the company is still driving toward raising more capital. This could further dilute shareholders. Lucid ended Q3 with $5.5 billion in total liquidity, with about $1.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

Production of Lucid's recently launched Gravity SUV continues to be a hot topic. Lucid maintains that it intends to significantly increase production during the fourth quarter, but that the company's increased Gravity production quarter to quarter remained unmeaningful. Lucid has been dealing with industrywide supply chain issues in magnets, aluminum, and chips. It's lowered its 2025 production forecast to 18,000 from a previous range of 18,000 to 20,000. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lucid-motors-q3-net-loss-001941105.html

A silver lining for the Gravity SUV is that management expects its sales to outpace the Air sedan for the first time during the fourth quarter. Furthermore, even despite the loss of the tax credit, October deliveries for the Gravity increased from September due to better availability.

The road ahead

Lucid's product pipeline includes a midsize crossover scheduled in late 2026, and two smaller crossovers launching in mid-2028 and mid-2029. It has also dipped its toes in driverless vehicles with its recent deal with Uber Technologies. The partnership has Uber investing $300 million into Lucid to help fund the development costs. The service will integrate Nuro's autonomous driving system on thousands of Lucid Gravity vehicles in a robotaxi pilot program that will launch in a U.S. city next year.

Image source: Uber Technologies.

At first glance, Lucid seems to have a lot of things going for it. It has a shiny new partnership for driverless vehicles, a deep-pocketed backer in Saudi Arabia's PIF, seven consecutive quarters of record deliveries, and a pipeline of vehicle launches in the coming years. But investors would also be wise to pump the brakes. Saudi Arabia's PIF could one day decide to cut its losses, leaving Lucid in a world of hurt. Its sales volume is still far too small to scale for profits. It has faced numerous production inefficiencies and supply chain issues, has had executive turnover, and continues to rapidly burn through cash.

Lucid remains a high-risk and volatile investment with intriguing upside, but investors might watch this from the sidelines for now.

Daniel Miller has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.