Rivian’s high-end R1 SUV goes for more than $70,000, so its wealthier end customers may be less sensitive to the high interest rates or the potential rollback of EV incentives coming from a Trump administration.

Furthermore, the company just inked a high-profile deal with Volkswagen (OTC: VWAGY) in which Rivian will license its leading software and hardware technology to a joint venture and in return receive up to $5.8 billion through 2027, which will help fund the company’s 2026 launch of its R2 SUVs in the first half of 2026.

Rivian has also made progress lowering raw materials costs and capital expenditures, and actually anticipates a positive gross margin in the fourth quarter. This is due to several old supplier contracts rolling off as the new second-generation R1 platform ramps, which has a much lower cost structure.

While Rivian certainly has a ways to go in getting to overall profitability, achieving a positive gross margin is a huge improvement from the negative 40%-ish gross margin seen over the past year. Furthermore, the Volkswagen deal provides an important source of funding as uncertainties around interest rates remain.

Overall, Rivian appears to have the high-profile partnerships, funding sources, and margin improvements EV brands will need in order to survive and compete in the new environment.

Like other solar companies, Enphase (NASDAQ: ENPH) has seen its stock decimated following the election. However, the stock has been struggling ever since interest rates spiked in 2022, which severely curtailed rooftop solar demand.

Still, Enphase is a profitable industry leader. Its microinverter technology goes on each panel of a system and is a superior choice to string inverters, which only convert power from all panels all at once. The advantage of microinverters is that they increase the efficiency of the whole system, whereas string inverters are limited by the lowest-performing panel on a solar installation.

Microinverters therefore command a price premium to string inverters. That has allowed Enphase to stay profitable even in an absolutely horrific rooftop solar environment over the past couple of years. Just compare Enphase’s results to string inverter rival SolarEdge:

ENPH Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts.

Enphase has taken even more proactive steps to preserve its profitability, recently laying off some 500 employees. While that is unfortunate for those employees, it does show that management is proactive in cutting costs and maintaining management’s margin targets, even though Enphase is still profitable at the moment.

Furthermore, while revenue has declined markedly year over year, revenue and operating margins have improved sequentially  in each of the past two quarters, as you can see on the top left and bottom right panels.

So while the market is still in a big downcycle, Enphase’s results show it could be at a bottom. And with its profitability better than that of all competitors, it has the potential to outlast those who may go bankrupt, putting Enphase in a position to capitalize on the next upcycle.

With Enphase stock now down to just 18.5 times next year’s earnings estimates and the stock price back down to levels not seen since 2020, now may be a good time for contrarian investors to hone in on this solar leader.

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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Enphase Energy, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends SolarEdge Technologies and Volkswagen Ag. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Trump’s Election Caused a Sell-Off in Clean Energy Stocks. But Is It an Opportunity for These 2 Industry Leaders? was originally published by The Motley Fool