Bank of America raised its price target on Nio less than 24 hours after the Chinese EV maker reported its first-quarter results, while keeping a cautious rating on the stock.
Analyst Ming Hsun Lee lifted the target on the US-listed shares to $6.80 from $6.70 and on the Hong Kong-listed shares to HK$53 from HK$52, maintaining a Neutral rating.
The new US target implies upside of about 21% from Thursday’s closing price of $5.60.
However, the raise did little to support the stock.
Nio‘s US-listed shares were trading 5.89% lower at $5.27 as of publication time in Friday’s pre-market session.
The Hong Kong-listed shares edged 0.4% lower on Friday, closing at HK$42.78.
The decline reflected two pressures.
The stock had reversed sharply during Thursday’s earnings call after management warned of rising raw-material costs.
It then fell further on Friday as US-listed Chinese stocks slid broadly after Beijing escalated a crackdown on the offshore brokers that channel mainland money into those shares.
Trading volume was significantly higher than usual. More than 101 million US-listed shares changed hands on Thursday, around 249% of the 65-day average of roughly 40.55 million.
BofA’s Take
Lee tied the revision directly to the first-quarter print and the company’s forward guidance.
“We factor in 1Q26 result, and slightly lift our 2026/27E sales volume by 1%/1% and lift GPM by 1.4ppt/1.4ppt,” Lee wrote, citing the new sales guidance, model pipeline and margin outlook.
The margin and volume changes drove a far larger swing on the bottom line.
“Net-net, we raise the 2026/27E non-GAAP net profit by 593%/23%,” Lee wrote.
The bank held its rating despite the more optimistic forecasts.
“We reiterate Neutral rating on Nio, as its strong model pipeline and OPEX are partially offset by sector headwind: lower EV purchase subsidy and cost inflation,” Lee wrote, pointing to battery, memory and metals costs in 2026.
The cost caution mirrors the warning from Nio‘s own management this week.
Finance chief Stanley Yu Qu told analysts on the call that raw-material inflation would add around 10,000 yuan or more per vehicle from the second quarter, and guided full-year vehicle margin to around 17% to 18%.
The cost discipline Lee credited was visible in the quarter’s operating expenses.
Research and development spending fell 40.7% year over year to 1.89 billion yuan, while selling, general and administrative costs dropped 20.5% to 3.5 billion yuan, both driven by what the company called organizational optimization.
That restraint helped narrow the operating loss to 308.8 million yuan from 6.42 billion yuan a year earlier, and underpins the steep upgrade to Lee’s profit forecast.
A Record Quarter
Nio delivered 83,465 vehicles in the first quarter, a record for the period and a 98.3% increase year over year.
The Nio brand accounted for 58,543 units, the Onvo brand 13,339, and the Firefly brand 11,583.
Total revenue rose 112.2% to 25.53 billion yuan ($3.70 billion).
Vehicle margin reached 18.8%, improving for a fourth consecutive quarter, while overall gross margin climbed to 19.0% from 7.6% a year earlier.
Margin on other sales, mainly services and community businesses, reached 20.6%, a four-year high.
The net loss narrowed to 332.1 million yuan from 6.75 billion yuan a year earlier.
Excluding share-based compensation, Nio posted an adjusted net profit of 43.5 million yuan, its second straight non-GAAP profitable quarter.
Net current assets turned positive as cash rose to $7 billion.
The company also pared its retail footprint, ending the quarter with nine fewer main-brand showrooms and ten more Onvo stores.
Guidance and Outlook
Nio guided second-quarter deliveries to between 110,000 and 115,000 vehicles, up 52.7% to 59.6% year over year.
It expects revenue of 32.78 billion yuan to 34.44 billion yuan, up 72.4% to 81.2% from a year earlier.
Combined, Nio expects to deliver between 80,644 and 85,644 vehicles across May and June.
On the call, management voiced confidence in ES9 demand as pre-orders accelerated ahead of the flagship SUV’s May 27 launch and first deliveries.
A Cautious History
Lee has covered Nio for years and was more bullish during the 2020-2022 EV boom before shifting to Neutral amid intensifying competition, margin pressure and subsidy changes.
The target has swung with quarterly results and delivery momentum.
After trimming the figure to $4.30 by mid-2025, Lee raised it sharply to $7.10 from $5.00 in September on stronger volume and margin forecasts, then to $7.60 days later following Nio Day and strong ES8 orders.
He cut it to $6.70 in late November, describing narrowing losses as already priced into the stock.
In March, Lee raised the target to $6.70 from $6.30 after Nio posted its first-ever quarterly GAAP profit in the fourth quarter of 2025, calling the earnings improvement real but the risk-reward balanced.
This week’s $0.10 raise keeps BofA toward the lower-to-mid end of Wall Street targets.
BofA’s Neutral stance has consistently sat below the more bullish banks, a position it has held through Nio’s multi-year decline from its 2021 peak and partial recovery since.
The bank’s caution contrasts with Citi, which lifted its target to $8.20 earlier today while maintaining a Buy rating.
China International Capital Corporation also raised its target on Friday, to $8.00 for the US-listed shares.
