Text size
Li Xiang One PHEV
Courtesy of Li Auto Inc.
Li Auto,
like their electric vehicle pairs
NIO
and
Tesla,
had a very strong finish a year. China’s EV sector remains on fire until 2021.
Chinese SUV maker Li ONE delivered 6,126 vehicles in December. This rose from 4,646 in November and grew about 530% compared to December 2019, according to the company.
It can be a little difficult to get a consensus delivery number for Li Auto (ticker: LI) and other Chinese EV producers. Most analysts are based in Asia and it is difficult to reach consensus. Tesla (TSLA), for example, delivered more than 180,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter, which was better than the estimated 176,000 analysts.
Still, Li’s number is very strong, even without a real consensus among analysts for comparison. The company, in its third quarter conference call, said it expected to deliver 11,000 to 12,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter. The company ended up delivering 14,464 in the fourth quarter, easily exceeding its own initial projections.
NIO (NIO) delivered more than 7,000 vehicles in December. Combined with the results of Tesla and Li, it appears that Chinese EV demand remains very healthy.
XPeng
(XPEV), the other Chinese EV producer listed in the U.S., has yet to release December deliveries.
Calling stock prices in response to even the good news can be difficult at times. Li’s shares fell after reporting November deliveries. Li also sold more shares to raise money around the time that November deliveries were announced.
EV shares are definitely in a bull market. Tesla rose about 740% in 2020 and is now the most valuable car company in the world by a wide margin. Li’s shares closed 2020 at $ 28.83, substantially above the July IPO price of $ 11.50.
The gains make Li, and the Chinese EV sector as a whole, expensive. Barron’s recently wrote that Chinese EV shares were very expensive for us. This article appeared in mid-December, and Chinese EV shares, on average, are traded on where they were at that time.
Most analysts disagree Barron’s. Over 60% of analysts rate the three Chinese EV stocks – NIO, Li and XPeng – Buy. The average purchase rating ratio for shares in the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
is about 57%.
For Li, about 64% of analysts covering the company evaluate the purchase of shares. The analyst’s average price is around $ 37 per share.
Monday must be an interesting day. Investors have to deal with Tesla’s recent Model Y prices in China. A Model Y is priced less than a NIO EC6 and almost the price of a Li ONE.
This may be a concern for investors, but the delivery numbers look good.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]