Al Root

Luminar Technologies reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales and announced a new operating plan for the company.

Investors look a little nervous about change, but, on balance, are pleased.

Wednesday evening, Luminar announced first-quarter sales of $18.9 million. Wall Street was looking for $16.2 million. Luminar reported sales of $21 million in the first quarter of 2024, but some of that revenue was related to product development. Luminar shipped about 6,000 Lidar sensors in the first quarter, up 50% from the fourth quarter of 2024. Those sensors are used in cars such as the Volvo EAX90.

Auto makers such as Volvo are adopting lidar, or essentially laser-based radar, to serve as a set of eyes for a car that helps enable improved safety and autonomous driving.

Luminar still expects 2025 sales to grow between 10% to 20% year over year, says CEO Austin Russell. Embedded in that guidance is a threefold increase in sensor shipments for production vehicles. Wall Street projects 2025 sales of about $86.8 million in 2025, up 15% from $75.4 million reported in 2024.

Along with sales, Luminar announced streamlined product development with multiple auto makers, developing an industry standard that can eliminate the need to develop customer products for each car company. This is designed to reduce operating expenses and development costs by more than $100 million.

Cutting costs has been important to making Luminar a sustainable business. It laid off about 140 workers in 2024, outsourcing more of its transition from start-up to auto supplier to partners.

Wall Street estimates Luminar will use about $200 million in its business in 2025. Luminar started the year with about $233 million in cash and liquidity. Cash and liquidity at the end of the first quarter was about $188 million. Luminar also has $209 million remaining on an equity financing program.

Luminar stock was traded above $5.60 in after-hours trading before settling at $4.80, up 0.8%. Shares gained 23 cents, or 5.1%, in regular trading, closing at $4.76, while the S&P 500 was flat, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%.

"In a world of macro uncertainty and adversity, we're firing on all cylinders to ramp up production, ramp down costs, and capitalize on the future, as evidenced by our announcements today," said Russell in a news release. "This kicks off our new operating plan for Luminar with a unified product platform, enabling radical focus and streamlining of the business, as well as unlocking value throughout our organization."

Through Wednesday trading, Luminar stock was off about 16% year to date and off about 83% over the past 12 months. Falling estimates have weighed on investor sentiment. Luminar is expected to generate almost $90 million in sales this year. A year ago, the estimate for 2025 was closer to $240 million.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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May 14, 2025 17:48 ET (21:48 GMT)

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