Shares of Rivian Automotive Inc. soared Thursday after the EV maker said it will supply electric vehicles for AT&T Inc.’s fleet, its first major announcement after it ended an exclusivity deal with Amazon.com Inc.
Rivian’s stock rose more than 10% — on track for its highest close since Oct. 4, when it closed at $23.69, and poised for its biggest one-day percentage increase since July 7, when it gained 14.25%.
Rivian and AT&T announced their deal earlier Thursday, with AT&T agreeing to buy Rivian’s electric delivery vans and other EVs for its fleet, saying it expects the first vehicles to arrive early next year.
AT&T also became the exclusive provider of connectivity to all Rivian vehicles in the U.S. and Canada, a deal that includes enabling Rivian’s over-the-air software updates, the companies said.
Truist analyst Jordan Levy said he was “incrementally positive on this news as it further demonstrates the upside of [Rivian’s] dual passenger/commercial model.”
The EV maker in November said it had ended its exclusivity deal to provide the electric delivery vans to Amazon, an early Rivian backer.
Rivian’s strong stock gains Thursday came as other EV and automobile stocks outperformed the broader market, including 5% jumps for Tesla Inc. TSLA,
GM earlier Thursday said it was laying off more than 20% of the workforce at autonomous-driving unit Cruise, a day after it announced the departure of several executives at the driverless-car business.
Shares of Rivian have gained 20% this year, compared with an advance of around 23% for the S&P 500 index SPX.
