Saudi Arabia’s Wealth Fund Watches Lucid Motors Investment Fall From Grace
Posted on 02/20/2024
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has been negatively impacted in its U.S. equities portfolio by the performance of Lucid Motors (Lucid Group, Inc) over a two-year period ending in 2023. Excluding this strategic equity position, PIF has had success in its U.S. equities portfolio, especially in its tech stocks and consumer goods industries. Lucid Motors in 2021 and 2022 was a net positive for its U.S. equities portfolio, boosting PIF’s holdings by tens of billions. As of December 31, 2023, PIF held 1,374,700,298 shares in Lucid Group. Lucid Motors hit US$ 55.21 per share in November 2021 to just US$ 3.58 per shares as of February 20, 2024 (intra-day price). PIF remained a core shareholder despite the drop in Lucid Group’s stock price.
Renewables and EVs are Drags on PIF’s US Equities Direct Holdings Portfolio
In the quarterly period ended December 2023, according to a 13-F SEC filing, PIF exited out of Plug Power Inc., selling out of 5,670,917 shares. Plug Power’s stock had also cratered as well. Plug Power is engaged in the development of hydrogen fuel cell systems. Due to accounting errors, Plug Power announced in March 2021 that its annual reports for 2018 and 2019 and quarterly reports for 2019 and 2020 should no longer be relied upon. Bloom Energy Corporation is a maker of solid oxide fuel-cell based power generation platforms and has been a drag on PIF’s portfolio. In 2024, Bloom Energy also revealed that its CFO of four years, Greg Cameron, was leaving the company – which is a red flag for investors in the company. On the other hand, PIF had exposure to Uber, Microsoft Corporation, Meta Platforms, Inc., and Amazon.com, Inc. PIF has not added or deleted from its shareholdings in many stocks for this period, but trimmed some holdings in FedEx Corporation.
