Lucid Group's Stock Surges Amid AI Potential and Management Shift

Lucid Group Stock Climbs Over 3% In Tuesday Pre-Market: What's Going On? - Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID)

Lucid Group Inc. LCID climbed 3.24% during the pre-market session on Tuesday, following an analyst upgrade What Happened: Morgan Stanley has upgraded its rating for Lucid, recognizing the potential for the company's new management to steer it towards artificial intelligence (AI) and beyond its current role as an electric vehicle manufacturer. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas has shifted their rating for Lucid from Underweight to Equal-Weight. Jones believes Lucid could utilize strategic and independent partnerships to expand its electric vehicle manufacturing capacity. Despite challenges, the company stands to gain from the U.S.'s heightened emphasis on domestic EV manufacturing, particularly given China's dominance in the industry as per Morgan Stanley. Lucid's Gravity SUV is seen as a significant demonstration of the company's 2nd generation software-defined vehicle architecture, which could enable Lucid to participate in AI-enabled autonomy through strategic partnerships. "We see emerging scope for Lucid's ability to play a role in the embodied AI theme" stated Jones in the note. SEE ALSO: Billionaire Investor David Tepper's 'Everything' China Bet Pays Off With Alibaba Up 40% Since September Why It Matters: Lucid has been facing a challenging business environment, marked by sluggish EV sales and widening losses. The sudden exit of CEO Peter Rawlinson in February 2025 further impacted the company's stock. However, analysts have noted a potential surge in demand for Lucid's Gravity SUV. The company's interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, has also stated that customers are opting for high-end configurations of the Gravity SUV, with purchases exceeding $120,000. This, coupled with the company's potential to expand into AI-enabled autonomy, could provide a much-needed boost for Lucid's business. Besides strategic product offering Jones also stated that Lucid, backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, benefits from the country's strategic location, infrastructure, Middle Eastern market access, and potential for reliable renewable energy, offering key strategic advantages. Lucid holds a momentum rating of 13.96% and a growth rating of 80.25%, according to Benzinga's Proprietary Edge Rankings. The Benzinga Growth metric evaluates a stock's historical earnings and revenue expansion across multiple timeframes, prioritizing both long-term trends and recent performance. For an in-depth report on more stocks and insights into growth opportunities, sign up for Benzinga Edge. Lucid stock rose 3.35% to close at $2.16 on Monday. Over the past month, the stock plunged nearly 38% READ MORE: Dogecoin Was Worth $50 Billion On Donald Trump's Inauguration Day: It's Now Down To $25 Billion Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. LCIDLucid Group Inc $2.254.17% Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full Score Edge Rankings Momentum13.96 Growth80.25 Quality- Value58.15 Price Trend Short Medium Long Overview Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Why Lucid Motors Stock Soared Today

Lucid (LCID 11.81%) got an upgrade today, and the stock is soaring. However, overall, shares of the luxury electric vehicle (EV) maker aren't having a good start to the year. Even after rising 12.3% this morning as of 10:25 a.m. ET, the stock is down by nearly 20% year to date. The company should have a pivotal year, though, and one analyst thinks its shares have dropped too far. Jonas didn't adjust his price target on the shares. That remains at $3 per share, which represents almost 40% upside from Monday's closing price. So to some degree, the Wall Street analyst is just catching up with the stock's prior movement lower. But Jonas also thinks a new CEO could take the company in a new direction. Lucid recently announced that longtime CEO Peter Rawlinson was stepping down from that role. Jonas believes new management can leverage technology in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Lucid's battery technology is cutting edge. Its Air Grand Touring sedan boasts the longest range in the industry at over 500 miles on a single charge. But it is not known for advanced driver assistance or autonomous driving technology. Jonas thinks the company is in a position to utilize AI advancements for that purpose. He cites its relationship with the Saudi Arabian government as one key factor. A Saudi sovereign fund is Lucid's majority shareholder. That relationship could facilitate AI partnerships. If so, Lucid could leverage that to improve sales both domestically and overseas. Lucid has just launched its new Gravity SUV to go along with its Air sedan offerings. The company expects to more than double production year over year in 2025. So does Lucid have power? Investors appear to be overreacting to Jonas' report. Speculating on how Lucid might utilize AI technology isn't a reason to buy. Even Jonas still says to just hold the stock.

Lucid Group: Morgan Stanley upgrades to Equal-Weight on AI bull scenario By Investing.com

Investing.com-- Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded its rating on Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) on Monday, citing the potential for new management to lead the company into artificial intelligence and beyond its role as a standalone electric vehicle maker. MS upgraded Lucid to Equal-Weight from Underweight, and maintained its price target on the stock at $3.0. MS analysts said they believed Lucid has an opportunity to leverage strategic and sovereign partnerships to develop more manufacturing capacity for electric vehicles. They said that risks for the stock- from soft quarterly earnings and an abrupt CEO departure- appeared played out, and that challenges to the company's auto business were likely to persist. But this drove the potential for a bullish thesis with new leadership, which could lead the automaker into the AI industry. The company could benefit from the U.S. focusing further on domestic manufacturing of EVs, especially given that China is a dominant force in the sector. In such a scenario, Lucid could benefit from further leveraging the software capabilities of its vehicles. MS said the Lucid Gravity SUV is a "far more significant as a demonstration of the company's 2nd generation software defined vehicle architecture which increases the opportunity for LCID to participate in AI-enabled autonomy through strategic partnerships." This trend could also be furthered by Saudi Arabia- home of Lucid's controlling shareholder and its second-largest production hub- increasing its development of critical AI infrastructure, which provides potential advantages to the EV maker. Closer ties between Saudi Arabia and China could also offer Lucid some entry to Chinese markets, which have seen standout EV demand despite declining sales in the rest of the world. But MS analysts noted that the Chinese market was highly saturated, and that Lucid's competitors- such as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and BYD (HK:1211)- were already developing their own AI driving features. Lucid's shares rose over 2% in aftermarket trade, following the MS note on Monday. They are trading down nearly 28% so far in 2025, hit by laggard EV sales, widening losses, and the unexpected departure of CEO Peter Rawlinson in late-February.