BlackRock’s Latest Report on China and 5 Stocks to Watch

2. NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO)

BlackRock’s Stake Value: $1.35 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30

According to 13F filings for the first quarter of 2022, BlackRock reported owning 64.58 million shares of NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO) with a value of $1.35 billion, representing 0.03% of its gigantic portfolio. The firm is a manufacturer of smart electric vehicles based in Shanghai. Apart from its range of SUVs and sedans, it also offers services such as home charging, public charging infrastructure, battery swapping and auto financing.

In April, April, NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO) delivered 5,074 EV units, showing a decrease of 49% from the previous month and a slump of 29% year-on-year. This was due to the firm’s production facilities being hampered by supply-chain problems caused the Covid lockdowns throughout mainland China.

However, BofA analyst Ming Hsun turned bullish on NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO) on May 16. He upgraded the stock from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Buy’, whilst increasing the price target to $26 from $25. The analyst noted that shares of the Chinese automaker are trading at an attractive valuation, with strong fundamentals in terms of brand equity, sales growth, R&D capability, and improved cash flow. Lee increased the estimated sales volume by 3% and 8% for 2022 and 2023 respectively.

As of the end of December, 30 hedge funds out of the 900+ tracked by Insider Monkey were long NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO), with aggregate positions worth $813.7 million. The same number of hedge funds were bullish on the company shares a quarter ago as well.