JPM sees bright outlook for lidar firms; says Luminar to see strongest growth

Innoviz Technologies

20/09/2022 12:14

(Updates)
    ** Brokerage J.P. Morgan sees strong market growth for lidar
makers over this decade as companies race to develop fully
autonomous vehicles and upgrade technology
    ** Brokerage starts coverage of Innoviz Technologies
 INVZ.O  and Luminar Technologies  LAZR.O  with "overweight"
rating; expects Luminar to exit 2030 with the strongest revenue
among peers including Velodyne Lidar  VLDR.O  and Cepton Inc
 CPTN.O 
    ** Shares of LAZR and INVZ rise over 5% premarket while VLDR
trades marginally lower
    ** JPM highlights light detection and ranging (lidar),  a
detection system which uses laser pulses, is key to achieving
fully autonomous driving; expects total addressable market for
lidars to reach $110 bln by 2030
    ** Expects a large part of the growth to occur from 2025
onwards as vehicle makers move to achieve increased levels of
autonomy 
    ** Brokerage views Velodyne as likely to lag behind peers in
terms of revenue; sees the company, which is a top supplier of
lidars for industrials, facing challenges in the automotive
market; starts coverage with "underweight" rating 
    ** JPM initiates coverage on Cepton with a "neutral" rating
given doubts about sustainability of growth; CPTN shares down 1%
in light premarket trading
    ** Up to the last close, VLDR and CPTN have fallen nearly
76% and 82% respectively so far this year; LAZR down 46% while
INVZ has lost 12.6%

 (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru)
 ((Amruta.Khandekar@thomsonreuters.com;))