The prospect of a strong electric car in 2025 leads Baird to step aside from the Rivian. The company downgraded shares of the EV startup to neutral from outperform and cut its price target by $2 to $16, which is about 9% upside from Tuesday’s close. This comes as the stock has gained nearly 46% in the past month. RIVN 1M mountain RIVN, 1 month In November, the company received a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $ 6.6 billion from the Department of Energy to support the construction of its new EV production plant in Georgia. Not only that, Volkswagen increased its investment in the company to $5.8 billion through its joint venture to provide the next generation of electric architecture and software for EVs. “With the Volkswagen JV recently closed and the DOE funding announcement (surprisingly) in the rear view, we see few positives in 2025 and expect stocks to weaken due to EV sales, which may be sluggish compared to expectations,” analyst Ben Kallo told customers. Wednesday. “We remain optimistic about RIVN’s brand/product and long-term potential.” In addition to the lack of factors that encourage growth next year, the analyst noted a couple of headwinds in the broader space heading into next year. That includes policy changes expected under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration that could threaten existing measures — such as tax credits — aimed at encouraging new EV purchases. “Although there are several exceptions, we see the situation for both EVs (including the supply chain) and Renewables as a major challenge in the near future due to uncertainty around [Inflation Reduction Act] and growth in 2025,” added Kallo. Wall Street is certainly divided on Rivian, as 15 of the 30 analysts covering it have a strong buy or buy rating, according to LSEG data. However, its average rating of -$15.11 means more gains to come, indicating a nearly 3% upside and down more than 37% year to date.