Lucid Vs Nio Stock: Which EV Stock is Better?
Can’t decide between investing in LCID Stock or Nio? Here’s a side by side comparison to help you decide which investment is best for your portfolio.
Lucid (LCID) Vs Nio (NIO) Comparison
| Lucid | Nio | |
|---|---|---|
| Market Cap | $11.71 billion | $15.09 billion |
| Annual Revenue | $753 million (TTM) | $6.08 billion (TTM) |
| Operating Margin | -402% | -42.69% |
| Net Income | -$2.55 billion (TTM) | -$2.95 billion (TTM) |
| P/S Ratio | 12.12 | 2.24 |
| Cash on Balance Sheet | $5.25 billion | $4.3 billion |
Market Share
Lucid doesn’t have a very large market share but the company is expanding production in the United States and Saudi Arabia. Management wants to enter China, the world’s largest EV market but didn’t share any exact plans on how to make it possible.
On the other hand, Nio has scaled deliveries since going public and continues to impress despite the lagging stock price.
Even though BYD is the biggest seller in China, Nio is ranked well behind both Tesla and BYD right now.
Winner: Nio
Business Model
Both companies sell premium luxury vehicles to their customers. Lucid makes money from selling the Lucid Air electric car while Nio sells several EVs as well as the Nio smartphone.
Lucid and Nio are losing money each year and it’s unclear when they will be profitable. It looks like Lucid has better control of its finances while Nio continues to lose massive amounts of money and dilute shareholders.
Winner: Lucid
Electric Car Product Design
Lucid only sells 1 electric vehicle, the Lucid Air, while Nio sells 8 different EV models.
Lucid does have plans for an SUV but the company isn’t delivering its base model vehicles fast enough.
Nio does a great job of executing and getting its EV products ready for sale quickly. The launch of the Nio smartphone is doing well, which could give Nio a good chance at stealing customers from Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi.
Winner: Lucid
Production and Deliveries
Both companies are trying to scale deliveries to increase top-line revenue growth in a desperate attempt to become profitable.
Luid delivered 4,369 EVs in 2022 while Nio delivered 122,486 EVs. Nio is doing a much better job of production and execution while Lucid has struggled to produce enough vehicles to meet demand.
Winner: Nio
Management Team
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson is a former employee of Tesla and helped design the Tesla Model Y. He brings a wealth of experience to the Lucid engineering team and helped develop the world’s fastest and longest-range EV, the Lucid Air.
Nio CEO William Li founded Nio to help China reduce carbon emissions and fight against climate change. He has done a good job of scaling deliveries and driving shareholder value even though NIO stock is down from its previous all-time highs.
He is only 49 years old and will enter his most productive years (50’s) with a chance to make Nio one of the biggest technology companies in the world.
Winner: Lucid
Fundamental Analysis
Both companies suffer from high cash burn but I think Lucid is more financially stable at the moment.
Lucid sells a more expensive product and earns more revenue per vehicle sold. The AMP-2 Saudi Arabia plant will help the bottom line and I believe Lucid stock could rebound from its all-time lows.
On the other hand, Nio must continue diluting shareholders to stay in business. Nio lost $844 million in Q2 alone and only has enough cash on hand to last until next year.
Winner: Lucid
The Winner – Lucid
I like Nio stock a lot and recommended it to you guys when NIO was $2 per share before its epic 2021 bull run. However, things have changed and the company continues launching new products as losses pile up.
Chinese EV stocks are risky due to the different accounting principles and lack of trust in the United States.
Lucid is more like Tesla 2.0 and could really make shareholders rich with its amazing design and high price tag. The only downside to Lucid is that the company isn’t founder-led, unlike Nio.
With its more simplistic product line and stronger balance sheet, I like Lucid over Nio stock right now.
Once Nio stops diluting shareholders will have the time to pounce on NIO stock.
