NIO Stock Forecast: Nio explodes roughly 15% on BofA upgrade to Buy

• NYSE: NIO added 14.30% on Tuesday after the BofA upgrade to Buy.
• Bank of America upgrades Nio’s stock to a buy and raises its price target.
• Nio still has a number of bullish catalysts for the rest of 2022.

Update: NIO stock price built on to its recent recovery rally and added 14.30% on Tuesday, closing the day near the highest level since May 5 at $16.69. The Chinese Electric Vehicle (EV) maker exploded after Bank of America (BofA) analyst Ming Hsun Lee upgraded to Buy from Neutral with a $26.00 per share price target, up from $25.00. The upgrade was on the back of the company’s Improving sales, better margins expected in the second half of the year, and attractive valuations. Further, the risk-on market mood amid Shanghai’s reopening optimism also collaborated to the upswing in the NIO stock price. Markets shrugged off Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments at the WSJ event.

NYSE:NIO kicked the week off on a bullish note after receiving a favorable price upgrade from a major financial name. On Monday, shares of Nio rose by 1.68% and closed the trading session at $14.55. This marks the fourth straight positive session for Nio as the popular Chinese EV maker seems to be turning a corner from its recent declines. It was a volatile start to the week as the broader markets traded red and green candles throughout the day. The Dow Jones was the only positive index, edging higher by just 26 basis points, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed lower by 0.39% and 1.2% respectively.

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The main reason shares of Nio were on the rise again was due to a bullish upgrade from a Bank of America analyst. Ming Hsun Lee upgraded Nio from a Neutral to a Buy rating and raised the 12-month price target from $25 to $26 per share. Despite the recent downturn for Nio’s stock, Wall Street analysts remain mostly positive. According to TipRanks, of the 15 analysts who cover the stock, 14 have a Buy rating and one has a Hold rating, with a median price target of $40.61.

NIO stock price

Lee cited several key catalysts for the rest of 2022 that should provide a positive impact to Nio’s sales. With the company recently selling its 500th vehicle in Norway, Nio is set to expand further into Europe by the end of the year. By that time, its second production facility should be up and running, showing that Nio is scaling to a global EV brand.

Previous updates

Update: NIO settled at $16.63 per share on Tuesday, up 14.30%. Wall Street managed to post substantial gains, following the tepid recovery of the previous session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 431 points, while the S&P 500 edged 1.80% higher. The Nasdaq Composite was the best performer, adding 2.76%. Stocks were backed by upbeat US data, as Retail Sales rose by more than anticipated in April. Industrial Production also provided a positive surprise. Meanwhile, speculative interest paid little attention to US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Speaking at a WSJ event, Powell remarked that the central bank is comfortable with the current pace of 50 bps rate hikes, although he added that they would change it one way or the other. Above all, Powell reiterated that policymakers' main focus is to tame inflation.

Update: Nio stock spiked 10.5% on Tuesday to $16.10 after a prominent Chinese economic advisor spoke in support of foreign-listed tech stocks. Vice Premier Liu He, President Xi Jinping's top economic official, said that after more than a year of high-profile public scrutiny of the business models, corporate stategies, consumer data collection and foreign listings of China's largest tech companies, the central government was now aligning itself behind these same firms in order to stablize the economy. This may be a symptom of Monday's economic report that revealed industrial output in China had fallen more than 11% YoY. NIO's rally is additionally supported by a move to riskier stocks on Monday as the Nasdaq has rallied 1.4%.