By Davit Kirakosyan
JPMorgan raised the price target on Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) to $20.00 from $15.00 while maintaining an Overweight rating, noting that the Investor Day provided confidence in the company's ramp and profitability targets.
According to the firm, Investor Day successfully allayed concerns about the LiDAR industry's slowing momentum and Luminar itself. The company's targets for ramping up series production vehicles remain on track without any significant delays, and its pipeline of engagements is robust. This bodes well for strong forecasts of additional wins in 2023.
The company set specific targets for achieving profitability for its "core business" in 2024 and for the entire company in 2025, demonstrating its confidence in its series production ramp. The company expects to become gross margin positive in Q4/23, achieving profitability for its core hardware business by the end of 2024, and reaching profitability for the entire company in 2025. Additionally, Luminar aims to have $300 million of cash on its balance sheet by the end of 2023.
“If there was any disappointment at all from the investor day, it was the absence of new customer win announcements – although timing on those is tough to predict,” said the firm.