Kingsoft Cloud upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura

Nomura upgraded Kingsoft Cloud (KC) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $6.70, up from $2.30. The company’s Q3 results underpin its business growth and margin expansion, driven by increased artificial intelligence revenue and “buoyant demand” from Xiaomi for cloud consumption related to electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and large language model training, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm believes Xiaomi and Kingsoft’s cloud service demand bodes well for the company’s sales expansion, while its rising AI exposure and scaling back of low-margin business will drive further margin expansion.