Nio (NYSE:NIO) stock fell Friday after Citi analysts cut their price target on the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker by 20% to $8.50 per share from $10.40. However, they maintained their “buy” rating.
Today’s slashed price target comes despite relatively strong year-to-date vehicle sales from Nio, alongside the recent inaugural releases of its new Onvo and Firefly models. Indeed, Citi analysts even projected a higher sales volume for 2024 of 227,000 units from 190,000.
Unfortunately, Citi lowered its gross profit margin projections for 2025 and 2025 by 1.5% and 1.9%, respectively, while raising its forecasts for many of Nio’s costs. As such, the analysts believe Nio will experience net losses through 2026.
Citi’s $8.50 price target reflects a 1.7x price-to-sales (P/S) multiple on the company’s newly projected 2024 revenue. Given NIO stock’s current $4.83 share price, Citi’s price target still represents a roughly 75% upside.
Nio has had a number of interesting news items recently. The company recently raised its Q2 EV deliveries guidance to more than double last year’s numbers, which is expected to increase revenue by $2.3 million.
Additionally, Nio has earned approval to build a third production facility in China, which will be particularly focused on its new low-cost brand, Onvo.
Nio has also been selected by China to road test level three autonomous driving technology.
NIO Stock Continues to Tumble Despite Promising Potential
While Nio has certainly had a fairly busy year thus far, its share price still leaves something to be desired. Indeed, NIO stock is down 42% this year as one of many casualties of this year’s EV winter.
Not alone, many major EV makers are seeing red this year as sales slow amid growing competition. This includes former EV darling Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), which is currently nursing 28% losses on the year.
On the date of publication, Shrey Dua did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
