Li Auto Stock Is A Top EV Play To Consider

 | Mar 17, 2021 06:19AM ET

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto Inc (NASDAQ:LI) shares have been selling off since peaking at $47.70 highs in November 2020 at the height of the EV momentum period. The Li ONE SUV does up to 800km per charge distance with a 40.5 kWh battery does zero-to-100km in 6.5 seconds with up to 7-seat capacity. The vehicle has four screens, voice interaction and automatic parking with a four-motor-wheel drive. With so many EV makers still in the concept stage scheduled for commercial rollout but yet to produce EVs, Li Auto is among the big three Chinese EV makers including Nio (NYSE:NIO) and Xpeng (NYSE:XPEV) that are already delivering vehicles and providing triple-digit delivery metrics monthly. Li has the highest vehicle margin among its peers at nearly 18%. Risk tolerant investors looking in gain exposure in the China EV market can monitor opportunistic pullback levels in Li Auto to consider scaling into a position.h2 Q4 2020 Earnings Release /h2

On Feb. 25, 2021, Li Auto released its fiscal fourth-quarter 2020 results for the quarter ending December 2020. The Company reported an adjusted earnings-per-share (EPS) profit of $0.02 excluding non-recurring items versus consensus analyst estimates for a loss of (-$0.05), a $0.07 EPS beat. Revenues rose 65.2% year-over-year (YOY) to $635.5 million, beating estimates for $604.5 million. The Company issued upside guidance for Q1 2021 with revenues between $450.6 million to $493.5 million and vehicle deliveries between 10,500 to 11,500, up 263% to 297%. The Company ended 2020 with 52 retail stores in 41 cities and 114 servicing centers.

h2 Conference Call Takeaways /h2

Li Auto President, Kevin Yanan Shen set the tone:

“With 32,624 vehicles delivered to our users in 2020, Li ONE was the best-selling new energy SUV of the year in China, a testament to its highly competitive product features… We believe that evolving customer preferences for smart electric vehicles together with advancing technologies will continue to be tailwinds for our long-term sales growth.”

As of Jan. 31, 2021, Li Auto had 60 retail stores in 47 cities and 121 servicing centers and authorized body shots operating in 89 cities. As of Feb. 28, 2021, the Company had users in 338 cities with cumulative mileage exceeding 330 million kilometers and a 97.1% satisfaction. The Company is preparing for its full-size SUV rollout in 2022. The next-gen full-size premium SUV will incorporate the NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) Orin SoC chipset that can expand computing power to over 2,000 TOPS with the goal of progressively reaching level-4 autonomous driving.

h2 February 2021 Deliveries /h2

On Mar. 2, 2021, Li Auto reported February 2021 vehicle deliveries of 2,300 Li ONEs, up 755% YoY. Total cumulative deliveries rose to 41,276 vehicles. Needham upgraded shares of Li Auto to a Buy rating with a $37 price target. The recent sell-off in EV stocks presents opportunistic pullback levels for prudent investors and nimble traders to willing to take on the risks.

Get The News You Want
Read market moving news with a personalized feed of stocks you care about.
Get The App