Lucid is an electric vehicle player that has continued to post huge losses.
Demand for Plug Power technologies could decline in the short term.
Boeing is trying to turn around, but its high debt load and recent operating problems could stifle its recovery.
10 stocks we like better than Lucid Group ›
While the stock market has experienced enormous periods of volatility over the past 50 years, taking a buy-and-hold approach to funds that follow the S&P 500 and other leading indices has proven to be one of the best ways to build wealth. Those who invested in a basket of individual stocks and exchange-traded funds fared even better.
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean that adopting long-term investment strategies will necessarily yield good results for all stock buyers. Some stock picks are going to lose money. Read on to see three popular stocks that look like risky bets for long-term investors right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
Lucid(NASDAQ:LCID) is a specialist in the electric vehicle (EV) market and is making a name for itself as a provider of high-quality luxury vehicles in the category. Across its core Air sedan and Gravity SUV lines, the company’s vehicles have generally received high marks from industry experts, media and vehicle owners.
The company also received notable support from Uber Technologies Last year, the ride-hailing leader signed a partnership to secure at least 20,000 vehicles from the electric vehicle maker to support its robotaxi initiatives. Furthermore, the quality of Lucid’s business appears to differ substantially from the quality of its vehicles.
As a niche and relatively young player in the electric vehicle market, it is not surprising that Lucid has posted large losses. The company’s business model apparently eliminates pages of teslay’s playbook aims to forge a path to profitability by leveraging the benefits of economies of scale that come with a rapidly expanding manufacturing footprint. On the other hand, there are great reasons to doubt that Lucid can act in that sense.
Luicd has continued to rack up massive losses and has also continued to dilute retail investors by selling large blocks of new shares to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). It looks like this dynamic will continue for the foreseeable future.
power plug(NASDAQ:PLUG) has positioned itself as a pioneer in electrolyzer and hydrogen fuel cell technologies. In the third quarter of last year, the company touted sales of $65 million for its GenEco electrolyzer business, up 46% quarter-over-quarter sequentially and 13% year-over-year. On the other hand, total revenues amounted to $177 million, representing a modest improvement over the roughly $174 million in sales it posted in the prior-year period.
Like Lucid, Plug Power relies on issuing new shares and convertible bonds to raise funds. On that note, there’s a good chance that investors who buy shares today will face substantial dilution.
Meanwhile, Plug Power posted a net loss of about $361 million in the quarter, with the huge loss driven by write-downs, inventory factors and restructuring expenses. These individual costs won’t be recurring, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if the company announced more writedowns in subsequent quarterly reports.
While its operating loss narrowed 49% year over year to approximately $90 million thanks to cost efficiency initiatives and other catalysts, the extent to which the company will be able to improve operating margins in this regard is limited. Despite posting sales growth in the third quarter, the company’s order book actually declined 11% quarterly sequentially, as previously scheduled electrolyzer deals were recorded as revenue. Given that sales could start to decline again, as evidenced by the substantial reduction in its order book, Plug Power is a very risky bet right now.
Of the three stocks described as potential portfolio destroyers in this article, boeing(NYSE: BA) probably has the best chance of generating profits for investors. The company has faced major challenges in recent years, with high-profile accidents of its planes and large writedowns making headlines. On the other hand, there are some signs that the company’s turnaround efforts could bear fruit. Boeing sold off some non-core businesses, made acquisitions that could help support sustained growth and showed encouraging order book momentum.
Boeing reported sales of $23.3 billion in the third quarter, growth of approximately 28% year over year. On the other hand, the company recorded operating losses of $5.05 billion in the period. The performance represented an improvement over the $6 billion operating loss posted in the prior-year quarter, but that result is far from encouraging given the business also posted a big jump in sales in the period.
With the company closing the third quarter with consolidated debt of approximately $53.4 billion, Boeing’s financial dynamics continue to appear strained. With $6 billion in net losses during the first three quarters of last year, the business’s recovery still has a long way to go. Investing in stocks at this stage may not offer enough upside potential given the headwinds ahead.
Before you buy Lucid Group stock, consider this:
He Varied and Dumb Stock Advisor The analyst team has just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Lucid Group was not one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you would have $482,451!* Or when NVIDIA made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you would have $1,133,229!*
Now, it is worth noting stock advisor The total average return is 968.%: An overwhelming outperformance of the market compared to the S&P 500’s 197%. Don’t miss the latest Top 10 list, available with Stock Advisorand join an investing community created by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 actions »
*Stock Advisor returns starting January 11, 2026.
Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool positions and recommends Boeing, Tesla, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
3 Popular Stocks That Could Wipe Out $100,000 in Savings was originally published by The Motley Fool
