Gary Black Sees Many Buyers For Rivian, But Adds There’s More Reason To Own The Stock

• These companies might buy out Rivian to expand their presence in both electric vehicles and full vehicle autonomy, the fund manager said. 
• Rivian stands “huge” potential of expanding its total addressable market with its upcoming R2 midsize SUV, as per Black. 
• Black’s comments come on the heels of the company announcing a partnership with Uber Technologies earlier on Thursday.

The Future Fund Managing Partner Gary Black on Thursday said that EV maker Rivian Automotive stands the chance of being acquired by multiple names, including retail giant Amazon.com (AMZN) or ride-hailing platform Uber Technologies (UBER).

In a post on X, Black said that Rivian will ultimately be acquired by either German automaker Volkswagen, one of the "big three” U.S. automakers, or even Alphabet or Amazon.

“This is not the only reason to own Rivian,” Black said. These companies might buy out Rivian to expand their presence in both electric vehicles and full vehicle autonomy, the fund manager said, while also highlighting that Rivian’s market cap is still under $20 billion and the company has a “huge” potential to expand its total addressable market with its upcoming R2 midsize SUV.

“...the incremental TAM potential associated with extending the brand into the $50K R2 segment from the $80K R1 segment is HUGE,” Black said.

Rivian’s Investors

Black’s comments come on the heels of the company announcing a partnership with Uber Technologies earlier on Thursday, under which it expects to deploy up to 50,000 fully autonomous R2 robotaxis on the Uber ride-hailing platform, starting with San Francisco and Miami in 2028.

Rivian also said that it will expand its robotaxis to 25 cities by 2031, with the help of up to $1.25 billion investment from Uber towards building a robotaxi fleet.

Retailer Amazon has also invested in Rivian, and owns nearly 12.8% of the company in addition to a commitment to purchase many of the company’s electric vans to add to its delivery fleet.

Volkswagen, meanwhile, has a joint venture with Rivian focused on developing next-gen zonal electronic architecture and software-defined vehicle (SDV) technology with the help of up to $5.8 billion in investment from the German automaker.

Rivian R2

Rivian is currently gearing up to start production of its R2 midsize SUV, the base variant of which will have a sticker price of around $45,000, at its plant in Illinois.  

Rivian’s current R1 offerings—the R1T truck and the R1S SUV—are both priced above $70,000 making them higher-end offerings. The R2 is expected to push the company into the mass market EV segment.

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around RIVN stock fell from ‘neutral’ to ‘bearish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume fell from ‘normal’ to ‘low’ levels.

RIVN stock has gained 42% over the past 12 months. 

Read More: Boeing Stock Slips As NASA Reportedly Plans Scaling Back Its Role In Moon Mission, Considers SpaceX Instead

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.