Premarket trading on Thursday, November 11, saw Rivian stock surge nearly 9% higher, putting the electric vehicle (EV) maker’s valuation above that of automotive behemoth General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Ford (NYSE: F) as investors continued to show a strong interest in the world’s newest publicly traded EV manufacturer. At the start of premarket trading, Rivian’s stock was up as high as 8.71% to $110; at the time of publication, its consolidated last sale was $107.11, up 6.33%, as per Nasdaq premarket. After closing the stock trading session at $100.23 on Wednesday, the stock gained about 30% from its initial public offering price of $78 a share. 

Rivian’s IPO

Remarkably, the firm instantly surpassed rival automakers, GM, which has a market capitalization of $85 billion, and Ford, which is another one of its primary investors with a market cap of $79 billion.  It’s worth mentioning that the most recent IPOs to achieve such valuation levels were Meta  (FB: NASDAQ) which reached a peak market capitalization of $104 billion, and Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) in 2014, which was valued at over $167 billion. Rivian raised around $12 billion in the first public offering to support expansion, a sum that might climb to $13.7 billion if the whole over-allotment of shares is completed. The IPO has elevated the RIVN to the second most valuable carmaker in the United States, behind only Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), valued at $1.06 trillion.  In July, Tesla’s stock initially surged in response to news that construction delays and supply-chain problems caused by the pandemic, Rivian had to postpone deliveries of its much-hyped R1T electric pickup vehicle.

Company’s Prospectus 

According to Rivian’s prospectus, the company expects to lose up to $1.28 billion in the third quarter, with revenue ranging from $0 to $1 million in that period. Making it is the latest electric vehicle firm to garner investor funding at a high valuation without having shown that it has a viable business plan.  Despite the fact that just a handful of Rivian trucks are now on the road, the firm claims to have a backlog of 55,400 pre-orders for its R1T and R1S electric cars. Compared to the R1T, which begins at $67,500, the R1S SUV starts at $70,000, with orders projected to be fulfilled by the end of 2023. [coinbase]