Amid strong results for the past quarter, which saw NIO Inc. (NYSE: NIO) meet expectations and break its own records in terms of vehicle deliveries, the Chinese multinational automobile manufacturer is yet to sway Wall Street analysts in terms of their price targets for its stock in the next 12 months.
As it happens, NIO delivered a record 21,181 vehicles in September, bringing the total third-quarter deliveries to 61,855, which represents an 11.6% increase year-on-year (YoY), and lived up to the expectations of 61,000-63,000 earlier shared by its management.
On top of that, the company also secured a deal for a massive $470 million (3.3 billion yen) injection of funds from strategic investors, carried out in two installments by the end of this year, to subscribe for newly issued shares of NIO China, as Finbold reported on September 30.
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Wall Street’s NIO stock price forecast
That said, a group of 11 Wall Street experts have, in the past three months, set an average price of NIO stock in the next 12 months at $5.97, which indicates a decline of 14,22% from its price at press time, with the lowest target at $4 (-42.53%), and the highest at $8 (+14.94%).
At the same time, their consensus rates NIO shares as a ‘moderate buy,’ with six experts recommending a ‘buy,’ four of them arguing for a ‘hold,’ and only one ‘sell’ call, according to the most recent information retrieved by Finbold from stock analytics platform TipRanks on October 1.
It is also worth noting that Jeff Chung from Citi (NYSE: C) is bullish, having increased his NIO target from $7 to $8.90 and maintaining a ‘buy’ rating in a new research note on September 30, highlighting the growing “orders-to-sales momentum” for NIO, and arguing that the strategic investment in NIO China might “enhance its cash resources and further reduce the refinancing needs of Nio.” As he explained:
“Looking ahead into 4Q, we expect orders-to-sales momentum to likely improve further due to car sales high season and stimulus roll-out.”
Furthermore, he touched upon the potential boost from NIO’s Onvo brand and its representative L60 vehicle during the Golden Week holiday, especially ahead of the October 8 cutoff for promotionals benefits, opining that, if successful, “it may strengthen investors’ confidence on its Firefly brand.”
At the same time, analysts at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reiterated their ‘overweight’ score on NIO and a price target of $6.10, highlighting the recent positive influences, and Daiwa has also kept a ‘buy’ rating on NIO, praising NIO China as the company’s core operational entity and the cash injections by its existing shareholders as a positive development.
NIO stock price analysis
For now, the price of NIO stock stands at $6.96, which indicates an increase of 4.08% on the day, adding up to the 24.23% gain across the past week, as well as accumulating an advance of 67.81% over the month, and reducing to 17.29% its losses this year, as per the latest chart data.
All things considered, Wall Street still seems cautiously optimistic about the future of NIO stock and requires a bit more assurance before setting a stronger price target. That said, trends in the stock market can easily shift, so carrying out one’s own research is critical when investing.
