Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly Tuesday Ticker, Rivian sees its stocks soar; analysts fiddle with Tesla price targets; and Volkswagen makes the first steps toward its St. Thomas, Ontario battery headquarters.
Rivian’s latest relationship
Rivian saw its stock soar almost 15 percent over five days, following a major deal announcement.
Rivian will sell its electric delivery vans to telecommunications provider AT&T, the OEM announced last week. AT&T also plans to buy Rivian R1 vehicles for its fleet next year as part of a carbon emissions reduction pilot.
Rivian shares rose 10 percent in the hours immediately following the news. Since December 14, shares have risen 14.4 percent to US$23.03, at the time of writing.
The AT&T partnership follows Rivian’s November announcement that it would no longer make vans exclusively for Amazon.
EValuations
One Wall Street analyst is making hefty predictions on Tesla losses, despite the fact the OEM’s stock has more than doubled since the start of 2023.
Guggenheim analyst Ronald Jewsikow acknowledges that Tesla’s strong sales overseas, coupled with the likelihood it will hit its global production targets, shows strength; last Friday, he raised his price target from US$125 per share to US$132.
Even still, Jewsikow thinks the company is valued too high. His US$132 per share price target represents a nearly 48-percent decline from the OEM’s current value of US$253.65 per share, at the time of writing.
Other analysts also lowered their predictions for Tesla last week; though not nearly as much as Jewsikow.
Volkswagen’s new digs
Volkswagen announced last week that its St. Thomas, Ontario battery facility will serve as the OEM’s EV battery headquarters for the North American market.
PowerCo Canada—which Volkswagen Group said “will steer all activities of the battery company in North America”—will operate what will be the OEM’s biggest EV battery plant in the world.
The OEM is reportedly hiring staff and seeking suppliers. Production is slated to begin in 2027; approximately 3,000 people will work at the plant.
PowerCo held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $7 billion gigafactory last week, though construction is not slated to begin until 2024.
