Al Root
The Chinese electric-vehicle market is still growing. That's good for all EV makers. China, after all, is the world's largest market for EVs. But Chinese EV leader BYD is growing way faster than the market. Having to compete with BYD isn't so good for other EV makers.
BYD (ticker: 1211.Hong Kong) late Monday reported monthly deliveries. The company sold 209,467 electrified passenger vehicles in April, up from 206,089 delivered in March and up almost 100% from the 105,475 delivered in April 2022.
BYD has sold about 757,384 electrified passenger vehicles in 2023, up about 94% year over year.
Sales of battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, totaled 104,364 units in April, up from 102,670 sold in March and up about 82% from the 57,403 delivered in April 2022.
BYD this year has sold 369,011 BEVs so far this year, up about 84% from the same period of 2022. .
The balance of BYD's electrified-vehicle sales are plug-in hybrids.
BYD's shares fell by about 2% in trading in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Still, the dip leaves them up about up about 20% this year.
Despite the dip, BYD's results looked solid. Citi analyst Jeff Chung reiterated his Buy rating in a report Monday evening. He called BYD stock his top pick. Chung's price target is HK$602 a share, up an incredible 160% from recent levels.
He is one of the most bullish analysts on Wall Street. The average analyst price target for BYD stock is about HK$338 a share, according to FactSet.
The Chinese market matters for all EV makers and investors want to see strong demand. Results from BYD were encouraging. Results also showed that BYD is still gaining share. Its sales are growing much faster than the overall market.
Complete April data aren't available yet, but BEV sales in China grew roughly 12% year over year in the first quarter.
Tesla's $(TSLA)$ April sales in China aren't available yet. Those will be released by industry data providers in about a week. Tesla doesn't report monthly or regional deliveries.
In the first quarter, Tesla's sales in China amounted to about 138,000 units, up almost 30% year over year. Tesla is growing slower than BYD but faster than the overall market, meaning it picked up market share in the first quarter too.
Tesla delivered 422,875 vehicles in the first quarter. BYD has almost 300,000 BEVs over the past three months. Tesla still sells more BEVs than BYD, but the gap is closing.
Tesla stock closed down 1.5% in U.S. trading Monday, while the S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1%.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 02, 2023 02:29 ET (06:29 GMT)
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