Lucid Group (LCID) shares plummeted 16% on Tuesday after an unverified report from electric-vehicles.com claimed the company was considering bankruptcy or a going-private transaction. The stock swung wildly, hitting an intraday low of $2.37 before closing at $4.62, and slid a further 4.1% in Wednesday’s premarket to $4.43.
Lucid promptly denied the rumors, calling them “completely false.” The company confirmed it had retained restructuring advisory firm AlixPartners to improve execution and operations but stressed that no bankruptcy recommendation had been made to management or the board. Instead, AlixPartners reportedly suggested focusing on Gravity SUV production, scaling back the Air sedan, prioritizing the Uber robotaxi partnership and Saudi AMP-2 plant, protecting the Cosmos launch timeline for late 2026, and pausing European expansion.
According to Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard, Lucid is “funded well into next year” with total liquidity of about $3.2 billion as of March, including roughly $2.5 billion in undrawn debt. That figure was boosted in April by a $1.05 billion capital raise, which included $200 million from Uber, funds from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and a public offering. Nevertheless, Morgan Stanley estimates the company will burn $3.7 billion in 2026 and does not expect positive free cash flow until 2029, with annual deliveries needing to surpass 140,000 units — a far cry from the ~16,000 delivered in 2025 and a forecast ~21,000 in 2026.
Q1 losses widened sharply, with an operating loss of $989 million and a net loss exceeding $1.02 billion. The gross profit margin sits at -95.6%, and the current ratio is just 1.02. Wall Street consensus projects the company will remain in the red for years, with expected losses of $7.97 per share this year and $4.75 next year. Lucid’s next major update will come on August 4 when new CEO Silvio Napoli (formerly of Schindler Group) presents Q2 earnings, where investors will closely watch his plan to accelerate the path to profitability.
