What happened
Shares of NIO (NIO 11.65%) slumped 19.7% in February, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) company got caught up in a broader sell-off of growth-dependent technology stocks, and more near-term volatility could be in the cards.
Few corners of the market have been hotter than EVs over the last year, but pricing volatility and debate about whether companies in the space can justify such lofty multiples has recently intensified. NIO has been on a huge winning streak, and its stock trades up more than 1,020% across the last 12 months even after the recent pullback.
Image source: NIO.
So what
NIO rose early in February and appears to have gotten a significant bump from a Deutsche Bank report suggesting that recent job listings pointed to the company having ambitions to grow in the U.S. market. However, it couldn't escape the sell-offs that rocked growth-dependent tech stocks later in the month. Rising Treasury bond yields and signs that investors may shift to safer investments as the world recovers from the coronavirus pandemic helped drive the pullback, and the broader EV space has continued to see volatile trading early in March.
Now what
NIO has lost additional ground early in March's trading. The stock is down roughly 5.4% in the month's trading so far.
The company's share price bounced roughly 10.7% on March 1 amid a broader recovery, but it sank in the following day's trading due to mixed fourth-quarter results and another pullback for EV stocks.
NIO's vehicle sales revenue grew 130% year over year to reach $946.2 million, and total revenue for the period came in at roughly $1.02 billion. However, the company's adjusted loss per share of $0.15 came in higher than the average analyst estimate's target for a per-share loss of $0.07.
For the first quarter, NIO expects vehicle deliveries to be between 20,000 and 20,500. Sales for the period are projected to come in between $1.13 billion and $1.16 billion, with the midpoint of that target representing growth of 444% year over year.
NIO has a market capitalization of roughly $67.5 billion and is valued at roughly 14 times this year's expected sales.
