Al Root
VinFast Auto stock was rising early Wednesday despite the Vietnamese electric vehicle start-up reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter results.
The starting point for the stock is one reason shares are steady.
VinFast announced a per-share loss of about 26 cents from sales of about $303 million. Wall Street was looking for a 22-cent per share loss from sales of $429 million.
Only four analysts cover the company, making judging earnings 'misses' and 'beats' difficult. A company the size of VinFast would typically have 10 or 20 analysts following it. All four covering the stock rate shares Buy with an average price target of $10.50 a share.
The company delivered 9,689 battery-electric vehicles in the first quarter, down 28% from the fourth quarter of 2023 and up 444% from the first quarter of 2023. More than half of the deliveries were made to parties with a relationship with VinFast, according to the news release.
"Despite temporary challenges and market fluctuations in certain regions, our confidence in the EV industry's medium- and long-term prospects remains strong," said Madame Thuy Le, chairwoman of VinFast, in a news release.
"Our consistent progress places us in a favorable position to achieve our full-year delivery target of 100,000 vehicles," she added. "This is underpinned by the exponential growth of our point-of-sale channels and the introduction of new models designed to cater to a broader customer base across multiple new markets in the latter half of this year."
In February, VinFast first provided its 100,000 delivery target for 2024 -- up from 34,763 delivered in 2023. The EV maker has some 90,000 units left to hit guidance for the full year.
It's a tall order. Still, VinFast stock is up 1% in premarket trading at $3.10 a share, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures are up 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
Coming into Wednesday trading, VinFast stock was down about 63% so far this year. Slowing EV sales growth has weighed on several start-ups in the sector. Shares of Lucid and Rivian Automotive were down 43% and 63%, respectively.
VinFast management hosts a conference call at 8 a.m. Eastern time to discuss results. Investors and analysts will want more details about market growth and how VinFast plans to sell more EVs later in 2024.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 17, 2024 08:37 ET (12:37 GMT)
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