VinFast Auto stock slid 11.7% in late morning trading Wednesday as the Vietnamese electric vehicle start-up reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter results.
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.
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.