Rivian Automotive rallies after earnings impress and stock stands apart from Tesla

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Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) shot up 8.30% in premarket action on Thursday after investors and analysts sized up the electric vehicle maker's earnings report favorably.

Morgan Stanley noted that Rivian's EBITDA loss and free cash flow burn were better than anticipated. The report was strong enough that analyst Adam Jonas thinks RIVN may be able to cruise through most or all of FY23 without a capital raise.

Rivian (RIVN) also impressed with its update on reservation, which showed a sequential increase to 114K from 98K. Production volume was also noted to continue to grow despite supply chain bottlenecks with 7.4K vehicles made vs. 4.4K last quarter. Of note, Rivian added a second shift towards the end of Q3 that will continue to ramp in Q4.

An interesting nugget from Morgan Stanley was included in the update - "We believe RIVN may continue to benefit from customers who want to stand out from Tesla ubiquity."

Shares of Rivian (RIVN) have outperformed Tesla (TSLA) over the last six months.

Meanwhile, Needham analyst Vikram Bargi thinks low expectations on Rivian (RIVN) going into Q3 combined with strong execution should lift the stock. "Near to medium term, in the absence of tangible catalysts and a challenging macro backdrop, we expect the stock to remain relatively range-bound," he added.

Also weighing in, Wedbush Securities said it is cautiously optimistic that many of the headaches in the Rivian (RIVN) story are starting to be in the rearview mirror. The firm kept an Outperform rating and clipped its price target to $37 from $45 to reflect a lower multiple.

Dig into the Rivian earnings call transcript.