Ford (F) shares were active in early Wednesday trading after the carmaker said late Tuesday that its early investment in Rivian Automotive (RIVN) would add around $8.2 billion to its fourth quarter bottom line.
In an investor update ahead of its formal earnings release on February 3, Ford said gains from Rivian's November IPO would be booked as a special item over the three months ending in December. Ford invested $500 million in Rivian in 2019 -- building that to $1.2 billion in the following years -- and has a total stake of around 12% in the Irvine, California-based EV group.
Rivian shares, once valued at more than $100 billion, closed at $73.16 last night, pegging their market cap at just under $66 billion.
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"Going forward, mark-to-market revaluations to account for changes in Rivian’s stock price could result in related gains or losses each quarter reported as special items," Ford said in a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ford shares were marked 6.3% lower in late-morning trading Wednesday -- reversing an earlier gain of 2.1% -- to change hands at $22.83 each, a move that would trim the stock's six-month gain to around 73%. Rivian shares, meanwhile, fell 3..8% to $70.45 each.
Ford said adjusted earnings for the full year would come in between $10.5 billion and $11.5 billion, up from its prior estimate of $9 billion to $10 billion, when it reported third quarter profits in late October.
Since then, the carmaker has overtaken General Motors as the country's most-valuable carmaker, with a market cap of just under $100 billion, as it looks to double the production rate of its F-150 Lightning to 150,000 units this year, and has said it's booked 200,000 reservations for the newly-unveiled electric pickup
Ford was also given support from an upgrade at Deutsche Bank last week, where analyst Emmanuel Rosner boosted his price target on the carmaker by $6, to $24 a share, ahead of its fourth quarter earnings in early February.
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