Rivian Stock Slips as Morgan Stanley Slashes Price Target to $12

Aug 12 - Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) stock dipped about 2.5% Tuesday morning after Morgan Stanley trimmed its price target to $12 from $13 while keeping an Equal-weight rating. Traders reacted to Morgan Stanley's cautious tone on Rivian's upcoming R2 launch and heavy capital needs to compete in autonomy. Rivian trades near $11.69 with a market cap around $14.5 billion and sits down more than 10% year-to-date.

Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Signs with RIVN.

Morgan Stanley said Rivian shows promise in AI-enabled autonomy but expressed reservations about the steering-wheel-equipped R2 and current EV demand headwinds. The bank also noted that Rivian's Volkswagen partnership may steady volatility but could cap upside. Other brokers downgraded pressure: UBS cut its target to $12, DA Davidson to $13, TD Cowen to $13, Piper Sandler to $14, and Stifel to $16, each pointing to margin pressure, tariff effects, or production downtime ahead of R2.

Collectively, analysts weigh between the long term potential of Rivian and near term risks of execution. As it gets ready to launch the next batch of vehicles, investors will be eyeing R2 rollout information, margins forecast and cash management by the management.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

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