06:30 AM EDT, 05/07/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Lucid Group ( LCID ) shares dropped early Tuesday after the electric vehicle maker delivered a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss, while overall revenue fell short of market estimates.

The company reported a per-share loss of $0.30 for the March quarter, compared with a $0.43 loss the year before, it said late Monday. The consensus on Capital IQ was for a loss of $0.25 a share. Revenue advanced to $172.7 million from $149.4 million, but trailed the Street's view for $182.5 million.

"Average selling prices were down sequentially due to mix as well as the pricing adjustments, which affected a part of the quarter," Interim Chief Financial Officer Gagan Dhingra said during a conference call, according to a Capital IQ transcript. Cost of revenue came in at $404.8 million versus $500.5 million in the prior-year quarter.

Shares of the automaker have tumbled roughly 27% so far this year and were down more than 7% in premarket activity.

Lucid delivered 1,967 vehicles during the quarter, representing annual growth of nearly 40%. The company manufactured 1,728 vehicles, down from 2,314 units in the same period last year. "Our lower production than deliveries is an active decision to be cost conscious and is not a reflection of production bottlenecks," Chief Executive Peter Rawlinson said on the call.

The EV maker is still targeting production of 9,000 vehicles for full-year 2024. "We will continue to prudently manage and adjust our production to meet our sales and delivery needs," Dhingra told analysts. The company is "pleased with the demand" it is seeing, but usually experiences "some seasonality in Saudi Arabia towards the end of the second quarter," the interim finance chief said.

Lucid expects the overhead per vehicle to "significantly improve" as it ramps up production and deliveries, according to Dhingra. In the current three-month period, it estimates its gross margin to remain flat despite a full-quarter price adjustment. "This improvement is mainly due to further cost optimization initiatives," Dhingra said.

Price: 2.8100, Change: -0.24, Percent Change: -7.87