By Michael Elkins
Morgan Stanley analysts reiterated an Overweight rating and $16.10 price target on Nio Inc (NYSE:NIO) after the Chinese electric vehicle maker decided to cut 4Q delivery guidance to 38.5K-39.5K units (from 43K-48K). According to the company, the guidance cut mainly reflects COVID-led disruptions in deliveries/production, as well as lingering supply constraints, caused by rising COVID cases in major cities.
The analysts wrote in a note, “Guidance cut might dampen NIO’s stock performance, but shouldn’t trigger sharp sell-off, in our view, as the fallout from China’s reopening should be sector-wide and likely transitional. We expect that in the coming months the market will refocus on the pace of resurgence in store traffic/order intake.”
Nio hosted the company’s 2022 NIO Day on December 24. The automaker released a few limited updates on their third-generation battery swap stations, and NIO phones. The company also officially launched the EC7 and the new ES8 to the market. Both models are built on NIO's second-generation platform with the latest electric drive system, AQUILA autonomous driving hardware, and second-generation digital cockpit.
Nio plans to have five new models in 2023 but only two have been released so far. The company also unveiled the spy shots of its NIO Phone during the event, which is said to be officially launched in spring 2023.
Shares of Nio are up 1.19% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.