Bernstein SocGen Raises NIO Price Target to $6.00

Bernstein SocGen Group analyst Eunice Lee raised the price target on NIO (NYSE: NIO) to $6.00 (from $5.50) while maintaining a Market Perform rating.

“Q1 clean beat, Q2 strong guide; Q1 clean beat driven by ES8; second straight quarter of non-GAAP profit. NIO reported Q1 revenue of RMB 25.5bn (+112% yoy, -26% qoq), with deliveries of 83k units (+98% yoy, -33% qoq).

ASP rose to RMB 273k (+16% yoy, +8% qoq), supported by stronger product mix from the ES8 (54% of mix vs. 32% in Q4; starting price RMB 406.8k).

Gross margin reached 19.0%, with vehicle margin improving to 18.8% (vs. 18.1% in Q4), driven by ES8 contribution. Net income turned negative at RMB -332mn (vs.

RMB 283mn in Q4) due to lower sequential scale, but adjusted net profit (non-GAAP) remain positive at RMB 44mn.

We rate NIO at Market-Perform with PT for NIO.US at US$6.00 (Old: US$5.50) and for 9866.HK at HK$47.00 (Old: HK$43.00).

We value NIO on 0.5x 1-yr forward EV/Sales multiple (unchanged).

We lifted our price target on the back of stronger sales volume momentum for the newer launches, such as the ES8.”

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