Stock Market Today, March 11: Nio Falls After First-Ever Quarterly Profit Sparks Mixed Analyst Reactions

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Today’s Change

(-3.60%) $-0.20

Current Price

$5.50

Nio (NIO 3.60%), electric-vehicle (EV) maker focused on sedans and SUVs, closed Wednesday at $5.48, down 3.86%. The stock moved as traders digested Nio’s Q4 earnings beat, first-ever quarterly profit, and mixed analyst reactions, while continuing to assess its profitability trajectory and expansion plans.
Trading volume reached 77.6 million shares, coming in about 75% above its three-month average of 44.4 million shares. Nio IPO’d in 2018 and has fallen 17% since going public.

How the markets moved today

The S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.08%) slipped 0.10% to 6,775, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +0.08%) inched up 0.08% to finish at 22,716. Within EV manufacturing, industry peers Tesla (TSLA +2.08%) closed at $407.82 (up 2.15%) and Li Auto (LI +2.98%) finished at $18.29 (up 2.98%) as investors weighed delivery trends and pricing tactics.

What this means for investors

Nio stock pulled back today after surging more than 15% yesterday. That came after the company reported a surprise fourth-quarter profit with revenue of about $4.9 billion, up roughly 76% year over year.

That led several analysts to upgrade the stock and raise price targets based on improving margins and guidance for rising shipments. Not all analysts were bullish, though.

Barclays (BCS 1.11%) issued a note recommending investors sell after the stock jumped. Nio still has to prove it can sustain its sales and margin growth. Investors are also evaluating a billion-dollar, performance-based CEO compensation package announced yesterday. While it looks shareholder friendly, it could also turn out to drain needed funds from the balance sheet.

Howard Smith has positions in Nio and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Barclays Plc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.