Polestar Automotive Price Target Maintained With a $3.00/Share by Cantor Fitzgerald

Automotive stocks, including Canoo Inc , Lucid Group, Inc , Polestar Automotive Holding UK , VinFast Auto , and Workhorse Group, Inc , are trading lower Monday following China’s slower-than-expected second-quarter economic growth.

The Chinese electric vehicle stocks also traded lower on Monday.

The second-largest economy grew by 4.7% from April to June, falling short of the 5.1% forecast by analysts.

The consumer sector faces challenges as retail sales growth hit an 18-month low due to deflationary pressures leading to price cuts on cars, food, and clothing.

Slow retail sales growth, rising unemployment, and reduced wages have made consumers more cautious about spending.

A deep dive into the China EV market: China has invested over $230 billion in the past decade to develop its EV industry, a vital component of the overall automotive sector.

Electric car sales remained robust in the first quarter of 2024, surpassing the same period in 2023 by around 25% to exceed 3 million units, IEA reports.

The bulk of additional sales came from China, which sold about half a million more electric cars than in the same period in 2023.

From January to March 2024, nearly 1.9 million electric cars were sold in China, marking an almost 35% increase compared to the first quarter of 2023. Since 2021, first-quarter electric car sales have typically accounted for 15-20% of total global annual sales.

Electric car sales could reach around 17 million in 2024. Most of the additional 3 million electric car sales projected for 2024 are expected from China, potentially representing around 45% of total car sales in the country.

The global automotive industry market reached $3.56 trillion in 2023 and will likely grow to $6.86 trillion by 2033, implying a CAGR of 6.77%.

Price Actions: LCID is down 13.30% at $3.69, PSNY is down 2.22% at $0.9987, VFS is down 4.98% at $4.61, and WKHS is down 2.62% at $1.68 at last check on Monday.

Photo via Shutterstock

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Most electric vehicle stocks advanced along with the broader market in the week that ended on July 12, catching up with market leader Tesla, Inc.’s gain in the previous week. The Elon Musk-led company’s shares stumbled after a 11-session winning streak.

Here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:

See Also: Best Electric Vehicle Stocks

Musk Tightlipped On Robotaxi Rumors: Tesla shares were going strong and completed a 11-session winning-streak on Wednesday but reversed course on Thursday, stung by a report that said the EV maker would push back the robotaxi launch event by two months. The stock fell over 8% during the session before recovering in the very next session. Skeptics sensed a far more serious issue than the mere two-month delay, but bulls reasoned that the company could be perfecting the technology.

Musk, who is otherwise very vocal on X, the social media platform he owns, chose to remain silent on the rumored delay.

The week saw Tesla launching a new Model Y configuration in the U.S., namely the Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive, which costs under $35K and is eligible for the $7,500 federal tax subsidy. Separately, a COX Automotive report said Tesla’s Cybertruck was the best-selling EV priced at over $100,000 and that the company sold over 3,200 units in June alone.

Analysts have ratcheted up their earnings per share estimates for Tesla by about 9% over the past week, going by data provided by Yahoo Finance. The improved assessment potentially reflects better-than-feared first-quarter deliveries. The company is scheduled to announce its quarterly results on July 23.

See Also: Best EV Stocks

Rivian At Odds With Union: EV startup Rivian Automotive, Inc. did not warm up to the United Auto Workers’ union despite pressure from the Joe Biden administration, Bloomberg reported. This has reportedly hindered the R.J. Scaringe-led company from accessing federal funding available under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 for constructing its Georgia plant. The company initially intended to manufacture EVs under the new R2 platform at the new plant, but it revised its plan and instead added manufacturing lines at its existing facility in Normal, Illinois.

Lucid Reports Strong Q2 Deliveries: Luxury EV maker Lucid Group, Inc. reported second-quarter deliveries of 2,394 units, up over 70% from the 1,404 EVs it delivered a year ago. Sales rose about 22% from the previous quarter. The company produced 2,110 cars in the second quarter, an improvement from the 1,728 units manufactured in the first quarter of 2024, but down from 2,173 units a year ago. The company currently sells four variants of the Air sedan, which has a starting price of $69,900.

Polestar Unveils New BST Concept Car: Swedish EV maker Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC unveiled a two-seat roadster concept at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Concept BST, which is the precursor of the 2026 Polestar 6, is the latter’s track-focused evolution. It features bespoke bodywork, finished in a classic motorsport silver, with muscular flared arches, extra wide track and 22-inch forged alloy wheels. The motorsport theme continues at the rear with an extreme rear wing and a design completed by bespoke racing livery-inspired graphics.

GM, Stellantis To Be Awarded DOE Funding: The Department of Energy announced on Thursday that it would allocate $1.7 billion to support the conversion of 11 shuttered or at-risk auto manufacturing and assembly facilities across eight states—Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia—to manufacture electric vehicles and their supply chain components. This is part of the Biden administration’s Investing in America agenda.

General Motors Corp. said it would use the $500 million grant from the Department of Energy and its own investment to prepare its Lansing Grand River for electrification. A Reuters report said Chrysler parent Stellantis N.V. will receive $334.8 million to convert the shuttered Belvidere Assembly plant to build EVs and $250 million to convert its Indiana Transmission Plant in Kokomo to produce EV components.

The KraneShares Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility Index ETF ended Friday’s session down 1.83% at $21.11 according to Benzinga Pro data. For the week, the ETF advanced 4.46%.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read Next:

• Tesla Bulls, Bear Weigh In On Robotaxi Delay: ‘Very Odd’ Or Biding Time For ‘Eye-Popping’ Prototype?

EV Stock Performances This Week:

Photo: Shutterstock

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Advanced Micro Devices stock is in the news Thursday after Wells Fargo increased its price target for the semiconductor company’s shares.

Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers is behind the price target change for AMD stock. This has him increasing the firm’s estimate from $190 per share to $205 per share. That’s a potential 11.4% increase over its prior closing price. It’s also above the analysts’ consensus price prediction of $190.50 per share.

Rakers continues to hold an “overweight” rating for AMD stock alongside this increased price prediction. For comparison, the analysts’ consensus rating is moderate buy based on 30 opinions.

What’s Behind the New AMD Stock Coverage?

The new price target for AMD stock comes after the company announced its acquisition of Silo AI. Here’s what the Wells Fargo analyst had to say about the matter in a note obtained by Investing.com.

AMD stock is down slightly as of Thursday morning. However, the stock is still up 31.6% since the start of the year.

Investors seeking out more of the most recent stock market stories are in luck!

We have all of the hottest stock market news worth reading about on Thursday! Among that is what’s happening with shares of Costco , Polestar and Quhuo stock. You can read up on all of this news at the links below!

On the date of publication, William White did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

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Polestar , an electric vehicle (EV) company backed by China’s Geely , but based in Sweden, got a non-compliance notice from Nasdaq for failing to maintain a price of $1 per share.

Polestar has until Jan. 2 to get its price up and maintain its listing.

PSNY stock was at 94 cents per share in pre-market trading this morning, with a market capitalization of $1.9 billion. The stock’s price fell below $1 in late May and hasn’t recovered, falling to a low of 70 cents in late June.

EV Winter

Many EV stocks have had a rough time in 2024, as demand on the high end of the market has dried up. Only BYD , which sells cars for under $25,000 and controls its own supply chain, has been immune. Tesla is up 6% on hopes for its artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics technology.

Polestar went public in June 2022 after merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called Gores Guggenheim. On its first day of trading, it traded at around $13, 16% higher than the SPAC price of $10.

Polestar plans to build its Polestar 3 in Ridgeville, South Carolina. But the Biden administration’s new 25% tariff on Chinese batteries has forced a re-evaluation.

During the first half of 2024 Polestar delivered 20,200 cars. But it had an operating loss of $231.7 million in the first quarter, on revenue of $345 million. It has since laid off 15% of its staff. The second quarter results are due on August 29.

Polestar was originally spun out from Volvo , the gas-powered car company Geely bought from Ford Motor in 2010. But Volvo reduced its staketo 18% in February through a 2-for-1 share split worth $920.67 million. Most of those shares wound up with Geely.

Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska said in January Polestar is on a “road to nowhere.” He said the company should be folded back into Geely, which owns 88% of the stock and 93% of the voting rights. Polestar says it will burn through its $1.3 billion in cash by next year.

PSNY Stock: What Happens Next?

Roeska’s words are proving prescient. If Polestar is to survive, it will likely be as a Geely subsidiary.

On Penny Stocks and Low-Volume Stocks: With only the rarest exceptions, InvestorPlace does not publish commentary about companies that have a market cap of less than $100 million or trade less than 100,000 shares each day. That’s because these “penny stocks” are frequently the playground for scam artists and market manipulators. If we ever do publish commentary on a low-volume stock that may be affected by our commentary, we demand that InvestorPlace.com’s writers disclose this fact and warn readers of the risks.

On the date of publication, Dana Blankenhorn did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

On the date of publication, the responsible editor held a LONG position in F stock.

Dana Blankenhorn has been a financial and technology journalist since 1978. He is the author of Technology’s Big Bang: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow with Moore’s Law, available at the Amazon Kindle store. Tweet him at @danablankenhorn, connect with him on Mastodon or subscribe to his Substack.

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U.S. stocks were higher, with the Dow Jones index surging around 200 points on Monday.

Shares of Corning Incorporated rose sharply during Monday's session after the company increased its second-quarter core sales guidance.

The company said it now projects core sales to be approximately $3.6 billion (vs. consensus of $3.41 billion), an increase from the previous guidance of $3.4 billion. Core EPS is expected to reach the high end of, or slightly exceed, the management's guided range of $0.42 to $0.46 (vs. estimate of $0.45).

Corning shares jumped 9.4% to $42.05 on Monday.

Here are some other big stocks recording gains in today’s session.

• Morphic Holding, Inc. shares gained 75% to $55.72 after Eli Lilly agreed to buy the company for $57 per share in cash.
• Nikola Corporation N shares climbed 18.5% to $10.65.
• Grifols, S.A. rose 17.2% to $8.24 after Brookfield confirmed it held exploratory discussions with certain shareholders of the company in relation to a potential joint offer for Grifols’ shares.
• Pulse Biosciences, Inc. jumped 17.2% to $14.13 after the company announced it received the Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for its Cardiac Surgery System for the ablation of cardiac tissue for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.
• Newegg Commerce, Inc. gained 16% to $1.23. Newegg Commerce said the Presale for its tenth annual FantasTech Sales event is now live.
• NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. N shares rose 12.3% to $31.89 after surging 20% on Friday.
• IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. shares climbed 12.1% to $38.41 after the company announced interim Phase 2 monotherapy expansion data for IDE397 in MTAP-deletion urothelial and lung cancer. Additionally, Mizuho initiated coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating.
• Absci Corporation rose 12% to $3.55.
• SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. gained 11.3% to $27.88 after B of A Securities upgraded the stock from Underperform to Neutral.
• Polestar Automotive Holding UK PLC rose 11% to $1.08.
• Super Micro Computer, Inc. gained 6.5% to $902.31.
• Fluence Energy, Inc. gained 6.2% to $17.61.
• Lucid Group, Inc. climbed 4.7% to $3.06 after the company reported second-quarter production and deliveries.
• Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. rose 4.7% to $42.33.
• Paramount Global climbed 4.6% to $21.41. Paramount Global and Skydance Media inked a definitive agreement to create a new entity, "New Paramount," in a $28 billion merger deal.
• Intel Corporation rose 3.8% to $33.26. Intel has bypassed Vietnam for a substantial investment project, citing insufficient investment incentives.
• Rivian Automotive, Inc. gained 3.8% to $15.35.

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