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We are excited to recommend a new stock to you. We have been watching this electric vehicle company for a long time — even before its initial public offering (IPO) last year, explains Mark Skousen, editor of TNT Trader, a specialized service for sophisticated investors.

When it came to market at $78 per share, we felt it was just too overpriced to recommend. Its market capitalization was $68 billion without even selling a product yet. Since that time, it soared to $180 on hype before starting a gradual decline to a more proper evaluation, eventually hitting a low of just $19.

The company is Rivian Automotive, Inc. (RIVN), and we are recommending it now at a more proper valuation. Rivian is essentially the first EV company that has come to market with a pickup truck. Trucks remain the most popular vehicles sold in the United States. In fact, the top three highest selling vehicles in America are all trucks.

And while other competitors, including Tesla (TSLA), Ford (F), and GM (GM), have all announced electric versions of trucks, only Rivian is currently selling its R1T truck nationwide.

Rivian is definitely a growth stock at this point. Its revenue is just starting to come in. But I have seen the company’s truck — and it’s SUV — on the streets of our neighborhood, which is a major accomplishment. And it's a good-looking vehicle, too. Add to this that Rivian has a contract with Amazon (AMZN) to deliver 100,000 delivery vans, and you can see the potential for this company.

Today, the company has a market valuation of around $30 billion. But market caps are always forward-looking. Built into that number is the potential that this company has in the truck market. Right now, it is selling an electric truck that does not face the usual competition of internal combustion-engine vehicles. Tesla, Ford, and others are still months or years away from bringing a competitor to market.

Normally, we would evaluate a company by statistics like earnings, revenues or ratios like price to earnings, or price to book ratios. But with a young company like this, we are really looking at price versus potential. Unlike competitors like Lucid (LCID) or Lordstown Motors (RIDE), Rivian has stayed on schedule and has put out a quality product.

We believe we are at the start of Rivian’s rise as a long-term competitor in the electric vehicle market. And thus, we are recommending it to you to add to your portfolio. We would say to set a trailing stop of $24.

About the Author

Mark Skousen is a financial economist, university professor, and author of over 25 books. Dr. Skousen was recently listed as one of the top 20 living economists in the world. In 2018, Steve Forbes presented him with the Triple Crown in Economics for his work in theory, history, and education. Dr. Skousen is a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University in California, where he received the "My Favorite Professor Award" in 2019.

He has worked for the government (CIA), non-profits (president of FEE), and runs FreedomFest, "the world's largest gathering of free minds," every July in Las Vegas. He has also taught economics and finance at Columbia Business School and Columbia University. Since 1980, Dr. Skousen has been editor-in-chief of Forecasts & Strategies, a popular award-winning investment newsletter.

He has written for the Wall Street Journal and Forbes magazine and has made regular appearances on CNBC's Kudlow & Co., the Santelli Exchange, and C-SPAN Book TV. Dr. Skousen's bestsellers include The Making of Modern Economics, Investing in One Lesson, and The Maxims of Wall Street. Based on Dr. Skousen's work, The Structure of Production (NYU Press, 1990), the federal government began publishing in Spring 2014 a broader, more accurate measure of the economy, Gross Output (GO), every quarter along with GDP.

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