NEWARK, Aug. 5 -- the company he had just inherited needed to go back to basics.

Six weeks after Lucid shares plunged 50 percent intraday in July on bankruptcy speculation, erasing more than a billion dollars in market value before the company denied the reports, Napoli released second-quarter results on Monday that confirmed the depth of the challenge. Revenue came in at $405 million, a 56 percent year-over-year gain that outpaced analyst estimates, while the net loss reached $1.035 billion for the quarter. Deliveries rose 19 percent to 3,953 vehicles, according to the company's SEC earnings release.

None of those numbers told the real story. What mattered was the plan Napoli laid out alongside them: a $1.4 billion cash-flow improvemen...