Nio's stock soars as April EV deliveries more than double and new ET7 launches

MW Nio's stock soars as April EV deliveries more than double and new ET7 launches

By Tomi Kilgore

Rival BYD sees NEV deliveries jump nearly 50%, with Cathie Wood's ETF buying $1 million worth of BYD stock

Shares of Nio Inc. sped higher Wednesday, after the Chinese electric-vehicle maker reported April deliveries that more than doubled to outperform its peers by a wide margin.

Nio said it delivered 15,620 EVs in April - up nearly 32% from the 11,866 EVs it delivered in March, and roughly 135% more than the 6,658 EVs it delivered in April of last year.

The Shanghai-based company's U.S.-traded stock $(NIO)$ shot up 11.3% in afternoon trading, putting it on track for its highest close since March 18. Nio shares have now rocketed nearly 39% since they closed April 19 at $3.80, their lowest closing price since May 26, 2020.

Nio said it launched its new 2024 ET7 executive sedan on April 25, with deliveries beginning in April 30. The company added that it also entered into a cooperation agreement on April 25 with luxury EV maker Lotus Technology Inc. $(LOT.AU)$ on EV charging and battery swapping.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen-based rival BYD Co. Ltd. (BYDDY) (HK:1211) (CN:002594) said its new-energy-vehicle deliveries in April totaled 313,245 vehicles, up 49% from April of last year. That included a nearly 29% jump in battery-electric-vehicle deliveries of 134,465 and a 69% increase for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Commercial-vehicle deliveries rose almost 45% in the month, to 1,197.

BYD's U.S.-listed shares were up 1.5% in afternoon trading.

Separately, Cathie Wood's Ark Invest asset-management firm said its Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF ARKQ bought 18,748 shares of BYD's U.S.-listed stock on Tuesday. Based on Tuesday's closing price, the value of the purchase was $1.02 million.

With the purchase, BYD became the ETF's 25th-largest holding among its 37 holdings. As of May 1, the ETF owned 207,954 BYD shares.

Elsewhere in the Chinese EV sector, shares of XPeng Inc. $(XPEV)$ slipped 0.3% after the Guangzhou-based company said it delivered 9,393 EVs in April - up 4% from the 9,026 EVs delivered in March and a nearly 33% increase from the 7,079 EVs delivered in April 2023.

Li Auto Inc.'s stock $(LI)$, meanwhile, edged up 0.1% after the Beijing-based company said April deliveries of 25,787 vehicles were down 11% from the 28,984 EVs it delivered in March, but up 0.4% from the 25,681 EVs delivered last April.

-Tomi Kilgore

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May 01, 2024 14:43 ET (18:43 GMT)

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