Luminar Technologies Stock Jumps On Earnings As Company Reveals Tesla Was Biggest Customer In Q1

Luminar Technologies Inc LAZR shares are trading higher Wednesday following the company’s first-quarter earnings results. Luminar also announced that Tesla Inc TSLA was its biggest LiDAR customer in the first quarter.

What To Know: After the market close on Tuesday, Luminar reported first-quarter revenue of $20.97 million, which missed the consensus estimate of $21.14 million, per Benzinga Pro. The company’s top-line results were up 45% on a year-over-year basis, but down 5% sequentially.

Luminar reported a first-quarter adjusted earnings loss of 19 cents per share, which beat estimates for a loss of 20 cents per share.

Operating cash flow was negative $81.2 million in the first quarter and free cash flow was negative $82.5 million. The company ended the quarter with $268.3 million in cash and liquidity, which includes marketable securities and a $50 million line of credit that has not been drawn upon.

“Luminar’s New Era is here,” said Austin Russell, founder and CEO of Luminar. “The last decade has led to a defining moment for our company, and industry at large: Luminar has officially begun production for the first global consumer vehicle that will include our LiDAR as standard equipment.”

Although Luminar’s “new era” starts with Volvo, the company noted in a letter to shareholders that Tesla was actually the company’s biggest LiDAR customer in the first quarter. Luminar said Tesla helped offset the company’s quarter-over-quarter sales decline with purchases representing more than 10% of total revenue in the quarter, which suggests Tesla spent more than $2 million buying LiDAR from Luminar in the first quarter.

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Outlook: Luminar noted that second-quarter revenue could potentially be lower than the first quarter as the current work-phase for two non-series production customer contracts was successfully completed recently and terms for the next phase are being finalized. 

Luminar said it continues to expect to achieve a quarterly run rate of revenue in the mid-$30 million range in the second half of the year. The company also anticipates strong growth in sensor sales and revenue in the second half of the year as it ramps production.

LAZR Price Action: Luminar shares were up 12.7% at $1.85 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of Luminar.