Insightful new mainland EV article:
Barron's NIO, LI, XPEV 12/14
Thanks to my spouse's HK cousin/financial advisor, we bought NIO, LI, XPEV shares in May/June in my play Roth. I've also held BYDDY for several years. Mid/late Nov, we happily sold chunk of NIO, LI and XPEV guaranteeing breakeven. We've bought LI and XPEV on big dips, but local insight matters perhaps as much as traditional valuation some of us learned in ACCT courses, careers, etc. After BRKB bought shares of China's largest EV manufacturer, BYD (Toyota/BYD JV), I also bought some BYDDY. Similar to our breakeven NIO, LI and XPEV shares, I have no plan to sell BYDDY shares as BYD is China's largest EV manufacturer, is well managed, has a massive distribution network, etc.
Why? Mainland govt policy gradually limiting internal combustion vehicle sales, rapidly increasing societal environmental/ESG focus, huge R&D investment in EV (mainland big tech, govt, domestic and non-mainland PE, etc), massively growing nationalism, big time mid/upper class growth, "keeping up with the Zhou family", flashy nouveau EV trumps stodgy grandparent Buicks and Olds which were THE cars to own in 2010 or many traditional mainland competitors, etc.
NIO may be overvalued now, more than than LI and XPEV currently. However, some LT investors see the potential and some day traders are willing to take ST profits and pay resulting taxes either ST in non-tax deferred accounts down the road when they eventually take distributions.