The electric vehicle (EV) name is cutting 18% of its workforce
Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) yesterday announced plans to cut 18% of its staff -- around 1,300 jobs -- to reduce its cash burn. CEO Peter Rawlinson told employees that the cuts will hit nearly every organization and level, including executives.
Saving efforts are normally met with optimism from investors, but the electric vehicle (EV) stock was last seen 2.1% lower to trade at $7.40, and yesterday fell 7.3%. The $7 level has been acting as support since January, but year-over-year LCID is down 73.1%.
Options volume is running at a slightly quicker-than-usual pace, with 21,000 calls and 12,000 puts exchanged so far -- nearly double the average intraday volume. The most popular contract is the weekly 3/31 8-strike call, followed by the 7-strike put in that series, with new positions being opened at both.
Short-term options traders have been incredibly call-biased, given LCID's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.72 ranks higher than only 2% of annual readings. Short sellers have been jumping on Lucid Group stock of late, too, with short interest up 7.7% over the last month. The 139.98 million shares sold short now make up 8% of the equity's available float, or nearly a week's worth of pent-up buying power.