Nio Rising On Record-High Monthly Deliveries, Goldman Sachs Upgrade

China’s electric vehicle maker Nio Inc (NIO) has revealed that it delivered 3,436 vehicles in May 2020, representing a strong 215.5% growth year over year. Shares are now rising 3% in Thursday’s pre-market trading.

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The deliveries consisted of 2,685 ES6s, the company’s 5-seater high-performance premium smart electric SUV, and 751 ES8s, the company’s 7-seater high-performance premium smart electric SUV and its 6-seater variant.

As of May 31, 2020, cumulative deliveries of the ES8 and the ES6 reached 42,342 vehicles, of which 10,429 were delivered in 2020, NIO said.

“In May, we achieved record-high monthly deliveries in our history” cheered William Bin Li, founder and CEO of NIO. He stated that the company “will further increase our production capacity and expand our sales network to support our future growth.”

Meanwhile Steven Feng, chief financial officer of NIO, added, “We are pleased to see the strong monthly deliveries despite fewer working days due to the public holiday in May. We expect to achieve the delivery goal for the second quarter 2020, while continuously improving gross margin and narrowing operating loss.”

In a further bullish signal NIO rallied 19% on June 3 after the stock received an upgrade from Goldman Sachs analyst Fei Fang. This comes on the back of rating upgrades from JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch.

Fang boosted the stock from hold to buy with a $6.40 price target (14% upside potential). “We believe ES6 and ES8 volume strength has transitioned from being promotion-driven to reputation-driven,” Fang told investors, adding that never before has a domestic premium Chinese auto brand had a waiting list.

With NIO stock enjoying a 39% year-to-date gain, analysts have a cautiously optimistic Moderate Buy consensus and an average analyst price target of $5.70 (2% upside potential). (See Nio stock analysis on TipRanks).