The eye-popping numbers on Rivian's stock market valuation have continued almost unabated since the company's hotly-anticipated IPO on Nov. 9.
Rivian's stock price surged more than 10% at one point on Tuesday to above $165 a share. At that price, Rivian's stock was double the IPO pricing of $78. Shares gave back some of those gains by midday trading, with the stock hovering around $158.
Shares are up 58% from their closing price of $100.73 on IPO day.
For perspective, Rivian's market cap of $140 billion is closing in on retailer Lowe's at $165 billion. Rivian's market cap is in line with automaking giant Volkswagen around $141 billion, according to Yahoo Finance Plus data.
The stock has remained within the top three trending tickers on the Yahoo Finance platform consistently since the IPO, underscoring the enthusiasm in the buzzy electric truck maker.
"The Rivian IPO is awesome to see, the success there. I think it does show the level of disruption happening in this industry and the opportunity," said Luminar founder and CEO Austin Russell on Yahoo Finance Live.
The enthusiasm in Rivian is despite the company being nowhere near producing its electric trucks at scale. Moreover, the company lost a staggering $2.4 billion from 2019 through the first six months of 2021, according to its prospectus.
Nevertheless, Rivian's stock could remain a market darling in the near-term as investors reassess their thinking on Tesla, amid stock sales by CEO Elon Musk.
"Rivian’s valuation makes it a legitimate option for institutional investors who have previously only had Tesla to play the electric vehicle space. We’ve done enough IPOs over the years to know some investors cycle through new companies as they go public, selling the 'old' name and replacing it with the 'new.' Tesla has been the only 'real' EV play in U.S. equity markets for years. Now it has competition for the marginal investor," the research team at DataTrek said.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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