Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: $RIVN) Meteoric Rise

Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN ) has been a roller coaster since its initial public offering (IPO) in late 2021. Except it's only been one part of the roller coaster ride: the part where it sharply drops. Rivian has shed roughly 80% of its value since its IPO, but as the company heads into 2024 with some momentum, is the time finally right for investors to jump back in?

Fundamentals Analysis
New batteries
Let's talk about something else that could move the needle for Rivian investors: its new battery packs. Recently its chief financial officer, Claire McDonough, detailed a couple of interesting battery developments.

Rivian is introducing a standard battery pack that lowers the selling price of R1 vehicles from roughly $78,000 down to $70,000, opening up a larger addressable market. But it also teased a new battery that's simpler to manufacture. The simpler battery is expected to remove thousands of dollars of costs from production.

That's perfect timing for a company that has its sights set on becoming gross-profit positive in 2024 and has already made substantial progress in cutting its loss per vehicle. In fact, its gross profit per vehicle improved by $2,000 sequentially in the third quarter.

Better yet, Rivian will begin construction of its Georgia plant in early 2024, which will set the stage to roll out its new R2 vehicles by 2026. Those vehicles are set to sell for roughly $30,000 less than its R1 vehicles, broadening its target market.

Is Rivian a Buy?
RIVN is truly making improvements in a lot of areas, including reducing its cash crunch, expanding its options to sell delivery vans, and setting the stage for new vehicles and new battery packs. And it hasn't had to deal with tense labor negotiations because its sole factory is not unionized. Remember that Ford and GM are busy offsetting billions in cost increases from their new United Auto Workers contracts.

Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN ) is trading above the 50, 100 & 200-day Moving Averages Respectively, indicating continual of the current trend.