Li Auto upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan after revealing BEV i8 photo

JPMorgan analyst Nick Lai upgraded Li Auto (LI) to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $40, up from $22. The company has seen a major share price reversal, rising 25% in the past two days after it released a photo of its second BEV “i8” on February 25th, and the significance of i8 – despite limited details about its pricing and spec – is beyond the model itself as it defines and clarifies Li’s long-awaited BEV strategy, the analyst tells investors in a research note. JPMorgan adds that it expects Li to double its sales volume to about 1.0M units in 2027, with over 35% coming from new BEV models, from 0.5M last year, while also noting that Li Auto is ahead of most Chinese peers on L2+ semi-autonomous driving technology.