Why NIO Stock is increasing today

What happened

Shares of Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO (NYSE: NIO) were up Thursday, after a key competitor reported better than Wall Street expected third-quarter results.

At 12:15 p.m. EST on Thursday, US stocks in NIO’s custodian were up about 10.9% from Wednesday’s closing price.

So what

Rival NIO XPeng (NYSE: XPEV) on Thursday announced its third quarter results before the US market opened, and they were good.

Although XPeng (like NIO) is not yet profitable, the growth figures were impressive: revenue of $ 293.1 million was up more than 340% from the previous year, while deliveries of 8,578 were an increase of over 160% from the second quarter of 2020.

Better yet for XPeng, 6,210 of those third-quarter shipments were P7s, the company’s latest model. The P7, a plush electric sedan with cutting edge technology that starts at around $ 35,000, started shipping in the second quarter.

Xpeng’s older model, a small electric SUV called the G3, made up the rest.

Among other things, investors will be eager to hear about NIO’s new Battery-as-a-Service initiative, which started in the third quarter. Image source: NIO.

Now what

What does all of this have to do with NIO? Auto investors, at least in the United States, have recently tended to see NIO, XPeng and a third company – Li Motors (NASDAQ: LI) – as a group. All three are local Chinese automakers focused on what the country’s government calls “new energy vehicles,” electric vehicles and advanced hybrids.

Simply put, Xpeng’s report bodes well for NIO, the biggest of the group. NIO will release its own third quarter results before the US market opens next Tuesday, November 17.