Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) is an exciting stock. Since going public in 2021, sales have skyrocketed by more than 1,000%. And with several new mass-market vehicles set to hit the road over the next few years, there's a good chance that Rivian's best days are still ahead of it.

How much have investors made from investing in this EV stock thus far? Prepare to be surprised.

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This is how much Rivian investors have made since the company's IPO

Rivian went public on Nov. 10, 2021. The stock price on that day began at $78 per share, giving Rivian a market cap of nearly $100 billion. Other electric car makers were also going public around that time, and market fervor for most companies involved in the clean energy revolution were seeing their valuations soar.

But the hype didn't last forever. Since Rivian's IPO, shares have lost about 90% of their value -- a horrible scenario for long term investors. A single share of Rivian, purchased for $78 on the date of the IPO, would be worth today's share price of around $11.

The issue hasn't been sales growth, nor has it been an ability to produce high quality cars that consumers love. For the most part, Rivian's decline simply reflects a classic hype cycle. Investors were assigning EV stocks extraordinary valuations. And when expectations normalized, down came those once lofty expectations.

Even worse, a single share of Rivian today represents a smaller slice of ownership in Rivian than it did during the IPO. That's because the company continues to lose money on every vehicle it makes, and has been forced to sell shares to fill the financial gap.

In total, Rivian's outstanding share count has increased by 38% since the company went public. Expect share sales to continue as Rivian's cash balance continues to fall. Three years ago, the company had $18 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Today, it has less than $6 billion.

For now, Rivian continues to survive. But the historical returns have been abysmal.

Should you invest $1,000 in Rivian Automotive right now?

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