Financial services titan JPMorgan Chase is suddenly turning bearish on the stocks of popular tech and restaurant companies as the S&P 500 hits record highs.

JPMorgan analysts say several big-named stocks appear overvalued and may be smart shorting plays for investors, reports Barron’s.

JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman says Tesla (TSLA) currently has a “sky-high valuation” and expects earnings to plummet after President Trump reduced government subsidies for electric vehicle (EV) purchases. Brinkman also predicts that Tesla’s robo-taxi initiative is “likely to disappoint.”

He is also bearish on Tesla’s rival Rivian Automotive (RIVN). According to Brinkman, the firm’s efforts to improve its balance sheet “will likely [be] hampered by reduced EV subsidies and tariffs.”

Next up, JPMorgan analyst Kenneth Worthington says Circle Internet Group (CRCL), the stablecoin issuer, is due for a correction.

“Circle is a market leader in stablecoins with amazing technology, we view competition emerging and its current valuation as excessive.”

Moving on to the social media sector, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth says Snapchat (SNAP) faces continual hurdles, including big brand advertisers’ “volatile” spending as well as the firm’s “poor track record on execution.”

Bumble (BMBL) is also earning a bearish outlook as JPMorgan analyst Cory Carpenter says the dating app stock faces a “structurally challenged” online dating sector, and the firm “is early in its turnaround effort.”

Other stocks JPMorgan analysts say are among the best candidates for investors to look for corrections include the restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), chipmaker Intel (INTC) and fast-food chain Shake Shack (SHAK).

As of Monday’s close, the S&P 500 is trading at record highs at 6,286 points.

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Generated Image: Midjourney

Many growth stocks have struggled so far this year. Rivian (RIVN -3.66%) is no exception. Shares are down roughly 16% year to date, although the stock’s volatility has shifted this figure around quite a bit.

The strange thing is that shares are dropping in value right as the company gears up for its biggest growth spurt in years. Could this be the smartest investment you make in 2025?

Watch out for this growth inflection point

As an electric car stock, Rivian struggled in 2024 as the industry dealt with lower-than-expected sales growth. To be clear, electric vehicle (EV) sales still rose last year, but growth rates fell below most analysts’ forecasts.

Without a well-known brand name like Tesla, or the near-term expectation for new model introductions like Lucid Group, Rivian has struggled for relevancy. But that struggle could be over within 12 months, creating the potential for big upside to the current stock price.

One of the biggest growth hurdles that EV makers face is making affordable, mass market vehicles a reality. Producing cheap cars typically requires scale, but the relatively small size of new automakers like Rivian and Lucid makes that difficult. Tesla addressed this challenge by first introducing a luxury vehicle with lower volumes and higher price points to establish the EV maker as a brand. Only after it achieved this initial scale did the company move into higher-volume, lower-price-point models.

Automakers like Rivian and Lucid have attempted to follow this proven plan for growth. Lucid just introduced its second luxury model earlier this year. But by many metrics, Rivian is a year or two ahead because it already has two luxury models on the market. Starting in early 2026, it also plans to begin shipping the first of three new mass market vehicles, all of which are expected to have a price point of under $50,000. That price point should unlock tens of millions of new buyers for Rivian’s vehicles.

When you look at analyst expectations for growth this year, Rivian comes in dead last versus the competition, with just 8.3% revenue growth anticipated for 2025. Understandably, Rivian shares are priced the cheapest on a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, trading at just 2.3 times sales. But if you look ahead to 2026, this equation could flip. Mass market vehicles were the key to renewed growth for Tesla. So if you’re willing to look beyond Wall Street’s typical 12-month time horizon, you could foreseeably snap up Rivian shares at a discount before the next leg of growth arrives.

Should you perhaps wait a bit more before jumping in? The answer might surprise you.

RIVN P/S Ratio data by YCharts.

Should you buy Rivian stock today or in 2026?

It’s reasonable to ask the question: If Rivian’s growth won’t return until 2026, should you wait until then to buy shares instead of waiting patiently for a year?

It’s hard to buy growth stocks at a discount. That’s because once sales growth returns, the market typically rerates shares to a higher valuation. To make the biggest profit, investors must buy shares before the rest of the market catches on. This typically requires buying well in advance of growth inflection points, waiting patiently for growth to return.

Will Rivian’s growth spike in 2026? Nothing is for certain. But if Tesla’s growth history is any indication, the release of mass market vehicles is a great recipe for doubling or even triple sales. At just 2.3 times sales, Rivian’s stock is priced too cheaply should these growth rates arrive in 2026, or even 2027. This story will take time, but Rivian shares can certainly be considered a “smart” investment for patient growth investors looking to get an edge on the market.

Shares of Rivian Automotive (RIVN 2.07%) have fallen more than 90% from their all-time highs in late 2021. It’s a worrying sign that Wall Street lacks confidence in the company. But is that a justified view?

Perhaps investors just flocked like lemmings into electric vehicle (EV) stocks a few years ago, and Rivian’s shares were bid up too high. Maybe the stock, which is trading hands around $12 per share today, is priced to set investors up for life if they can see the green shoots that are starting to show up.

Here’s what you need to think about when you look at Rivian today.

Rivian achieved an important goal

One thing investors should always be looking for is a company that can live up to the goals it lays out for investors. Rivian’s big goal in 2024 was to turn a modest gross profit in the fourth quarter. It did just that, posting a gross profit of $170 million. Achieving that goal required the company to shut down and overhaul its production facility, which was another big goal that was successfully completed in 2024.

Image source: Getty Images.

The interesting thing is that the company’s production overhaul didn’t go quite as smoothly as hoped. After the successful plant upgrade, Rivian found that it was facing a shortage of key EV vehicle parts. That forced the company to shift gears on the fly so it could still achieve its modest gross profit goal. A close partnership with Amazon, which buys delivery trucks from Rivian, worked to the EV maker’s advantage here, as production shifted toward delivery vehicles, where there were no parts shortage issues.

All in, the fourth quarter was a good one for Rivian. It proved it could live up to its stated goals despite having to face operational headwinds. That said, a modest gross profit in the fourth quarter is just a stepping stone. The company’s full-year 2024 gross profit came to a negative $1.2 million. And the fourth-quarter and full-year earnings were both negative, at a loss of $743 million for the quarter and $4.7 billion for the year.

Rivian continues to move forward

Here’s the thing. Even though the company still lost money in 2024, the loss was much lower than experienced in 2023. Specifically, the $4.7 billion loss in 2024 was a roughly $690 million improvement over the loss of $5.4 billion in 2023. Rivian is very clearly moving in the right direction, even though it still has a long way to go before it is profitable.

That won’t happen in 2025, noting that the company’s production goals are basically flat-ish and the expectation is for a modest full-year gross profit. Basically, Rivian is looking to sustain what it achieved in the fourth quarter of 2024 through all of 2025. But while it is doing that, it is continuing to work on its business.

RIVN data by YCharts

That includes working to sell more delivery trucks to customers beyond Amazon. That’s important because the increased truck production and deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2024 means that Amazon won’t likely need/want as many trucks in 2025. However, the success of the Amazon relationship provides a solid selling point for Rivian with other customers.

Beyond this, Rivian was able to expand its relationship with Volkswagen in 2024. This is a positive in two ways. First, the giant European carmaker looks likely to become a key customer for Rivian’s EV technology. Second, the partnership is providing Rivian with cash that it can use to fund its business while it continues to work toward black ink on the bottom line. Grants from the U.S. government have also been helpful on the cash front.

Notably, cash and short-term investments on the company’s balance sheet fell from about $9.4 billion at the end of 2023 to $7.7 billion at the end of 2024. Clearly, the cash infusions Rivian is getting will be vital to its long-term success as a company.

Could Rivian set you up for life?

Rivian is not for the faint of heart. It is a money-losing start-up in an industry that is highly competitive and filled with established giants. However, the company continues to execute fairly well, hitting the goals it has laid out for investors to monitor.

If Rivian can keep doing that, it could become a competitive force in the EV sector and, perhaps, even become a highly profitable company — in time. You’ll need to have a glass-half-full view of the company to buy it, but there could be material growth potential here as Rivian continues its drive toward black ink.

Electric vehicle (EV) maker Rivian Automotive (RIVN -7.79%) has big plans in 2025. It could, in fact, become a make-or-break year for the young EV company, and there are reasons to be optimistic about its prospects.

Rivian is carrying momentum into the new year from several sources. Investors have been noting its accomplishments and potential by driving its stock up by about 35% over the last three months. Whether that will continue depends on how the company executes on its expansion plans on several fronts in the coming months.

Rivian’s growing opportunities

Interest in electric vehicles continued to grow in 2024, but the rate of growth has slowed. EV sales rose by 7.3% to 1.3 million units in the U.S. last year. Rivian’s R1S SUV was the No. 10 best-selling domestic EV in 2024. The company delivered about 51,500 units for the year, consisting of its R1S, R1T pickup truck, and electric commercial van.

One new growth opportunity is its commercial van. The EV maker has been delivering on an existing 100,000-vehicle order for early investor Amazon. Earlier this month, the company renamed it the Rivian Commercial Van (RCV), making it available to any fleet operator. It was previously exclusive to Amazon.

Management said inquiries are coming in from many different business operators, including plumbers and electricians, floral and food-service providers, dry cleaners, and even dog groomers.

A focus on EV tech

Rivian is also working to grow through a focus on EV technology. CEO R.J. Scaringe is the public face of this drive. Last month, he announced plans to launch advanced hands-free assist capabilities this year, with “eyes off” systems due in 2026.

It seems to be taking a page out of Tesla‘s playbook here. Consumers are looking for more autonomous vehicle capabilities, even if that doesn’t mean a fully driverless robotaxi. Scaringe stated that technology is “something we’re hyper-focused on.”

The CEO will also be leading a “fireside chat” at the upcoming Nvidia GTC (GPU Technology Conference) in March along with Nvidia’s vice president for automotive business. The topic will be “The New Role of AI in Electric Vehicles.” That tie to the leading AI company should be an encouraging sign for Rivian investors. Its Gen 2 vehicles already feature the Rivian Autonomy Platform, and the company looks to differentiate itself by building on that technology.

Rivian EVs. Image source: Rivian Automotive. 

Here’s what’s ahead for Rivian

The company achieved its goal of reaching a positive gross profit for the first time in the fourth quarter. The $170 million gross profit came through cost reductions engineered into its second-generation R1 vehicles as well as supply chain and commodity cost savings. That was well ahead of Wall Street predictions for $64 million. The company also expects a modest full-year gross profit for 2025.

That’s an important first step as it prepares to begin production of its next-generation R2 SUV, set to be launched in early 2026. The investment thesis in Rivian is really dependent on the success of the R2. This year will be relatively flat for sales volume. Management has only guided for sales of between 46,000 and 51,000 units for the year, a slight decrease versus 2024.

Record revenue in the fourth quarter was also aided by the sale of regulatory credits. Investors shouldn’t look at that as a fundamental part of the underlying business, but Rivian ended the fourth quarter with $7.7 billion in cash and equivalents along with more liquidity available from its revolving credit facility. It also reported positive free cash flow of $856 million on an adjusted basis in the fourth quarter.

The stock remains speculative, but Rivian is in a position to succeed if its upcoming R2 attracts mass-market interest. That makes now a good time to buy shares as long as investors recognize the aggressive nature of this stock position.