Li Auto seen winner of China EV race with 107% gain
Shares of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto have more than doubled from last year’s low and are tipped for further gains even as a slowing economy and price war hamper its rivals.
The automaker unexpectedly reported profits for the past two quarters by churning out a regular lineup of new models and keeping costs contained. Analysts remain bullish: $Citigroup(C.US$ predicts the firm’s shares will climb another 88 per cent by year-end, while $Morgan Stanley(MS.US$ raised its target price by more than 40 per cent this month.
Li Auto has outpaced its peers by introducing a new model in each quarter since the middle of last year, a much faster pace than competitors such as XPeng and Nio. The revamped product lineup helped revenue surge by 96 per cent last quarter, while deliveries jump to a record 52,584.
“The order intake has been much stronger than the market had expected, thanks partly to the intensive model launches,” said Joanna Chen, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in Hong Kong. “Li Auto’s sales volume will continue to beat XPeng and Nio this year, as the latter are still in a phase of product switch.”
Li Auto’s Hong Kong-listed shares closed at HK$110.80 on Monday (May 29), having climbed from last year’s low of HK$53.55 set on Oct 31. Their 107 per cent rally over the period compares with a 20 per cent gain in Xpeng, and 21 per cent loss for Nio.
A price war is heating up in China’s EV industry as the costs of batteries fall from last year’s highs. Tesla and BYD have both announced plans to cut vehicle prices, effectively squeezing industry margins, though analysts see Li Auto ideally positioned to weather the intensifying competition.
Disclaimer: Community is offered by Moomoo Technologies Inc. and is for educational purposes only.
Read more
Comment
Sign in to post a comment
M1ke1229 : Mullen
ZnWC : Li Auto Q1 2023 sales may look impressive but pale when compared to BYD and Tesla. In term of Top selling EV brand in China, Tesla is 2nd and Li Auto is 7th. If you look at BEV, Li Auto is not the the Top selling EV brand chart.
SpineeOP M1ke1229:
SpineeOP ZnWC:
Thank you for adding