This Forgotten EV Stock Just Reported Strong Earnings

While BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDF) and Magnificent Seven EV maker Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) battle for global electric vehicle (EV) dominance, an often-forgotten company operating in the space reported earnings on March 10, setting the stage for its comeback.

NIO (NYSE: NIO), a pioneer in the premium EV market, is dedicated to the design, development, and manufacture of smart, high-performance EVs. The company, established in November 2014 and headquartered in Shanghai, focuses on integrating cutting-edge electric propulsion, advanced connectivity, and autonomous driving technologies into its automotive platforms.

NIO’s struggles have been well-documented. The stock is down more than 92% from its all-time high in January 2021. Those struggles continued this year, with shares of NIO losing nearly 11% in the lead-up to the company’s earnings call. 

But the stock gained nearly 10% on Tuesday after NIO reported its first-ever quarterly net profit. Here’s what current shareholders and prospective investors can expect moving forward. 

After Years of Waiting, NIO Finally Achieves Profitability

When NIO reported full-year and Q4 earnings on March 10, it announced beats on the top and bottom lines. Earnings per share (EPS) of 4 cents exceeded analyst expectations for a 7-cent loss. Meanwhile, quarterly revenue of $4.95 billion surpassed expectations for $4.77 billion. The EPS beat was just the second in the past 10 quarters. 

The Chinese EV maker's earnings are forecast to grow by nearly 28% next year. In his earnings call comments, founder and CEO William Li said that during Q4 2025, NIO’s vehicle margin exceeded 18%, attributing it to continuous improvement and vehicle cost optimization. 

Li added that “the margin of other sales reached 11.9%, supported by the expanding scale and improving profitability…as our user base continues to grow.”Both of those margin figures exceed the industry average for mainstream automakers, which typically operate between 7% and 10%. 

The EV maker reported strong volume momentum, with Q4 deliveries hitting 124,807 vehicles. That number represents a year-over-year (YOY) increase of nearly 72%, while full-year deliveries of 326,028 vehicles mark a nearly 47% YOY increase. Guidance for Q1 deliveries is in the range of 80,000 to 83,000 vehicles, which would imply 90% to 97% YOY growth. 

Management flagged emerging cost pressures related to vehicle memory, chips, and lithium carbonate, which could strain margins heading into Q2, but those effects should be short-lived.

A more important takeaway from NIO’s earnings report was that the company has now seen positive cash flow for two consecutive quarters—a critical factor in gauging financial well-being. At the end of the year, NIO’s cash and equivalents were valued at $6.67 billion. 

NIO Aims for a Bigger Slice of the Chinese EV Market’s Pie

While EV adoption in the United States has been slow to take hold, China remains the world’s largest EV market by a wide margin. The country accounts for approximately 60% of global EV sales, and with more than 11 million EVs on its roads, China’s EV market is larger than all other countries on Earth combined.  

According to industry analysis firm Grand View Research, China’s EV market—which was valued at more than $576 billion in 2024—is forecast to grow to more than $2.45 trillion by the end of 2030, good for a compound annual growth rate of 27.3% between 2025 and 2030. 

As of early 2026, NIO holds roughly 4.5% of China’s entire EV market, the result of which can be traced to the company’s notable growth in late 2025, which in turn has made it one of the top 10 EV manufacturers in the country. 

Later this year, the launch of NIO’s flagship ES9 executive SUV—which is slated for Q2 during the company’s April 9 tech event—is likely to bolster 2026 deliveries and should contribute to NIO’s expanding share of the Chinese EV market. Additionally, the company plans on debuting three other new models this year to strengthen its premium large-vehicle market share. 

In the company’s Q4 earnings call, NIO management pointed to how its long-term investments in core technologies are beginning to bear fruit, noting that “key technologies such as the world's first automotive-grade 5-nanometer chip with smart driving, the full-domain vehicle operating system, and the SkyRide intelligent chassis have all achieved mass production.”

What Wall Street Thinks About NIO

Based on the 11 analysts currently covering NIO, the stock receives a consensus Hold rating despite an average one-year price target of $6.83, suggesting nearly 26% potential upside.   

Current short interest of 7.13%—or more than 147 million shares of the 2.29 billion shares outstanding—is not insignificant. But those shorted shares, which are valued at $728 million, mark a more than 44% decrease from the $1.31 billion worth of shares that were shorted in September 2025 when the stock’s short interest was at its one-year peak. And while institutional ownership remains below average at nearly 49%, institutional buying has resulted in inflows surpassing outflows over the past 12 months by nearly $965 million to more than $530 million. 

Where Should You Invest $1,000 Right Now?

Before you make your next trade, you'll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis.

Our team has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and none of the big name stocks were on the list.

They believe these five stocks are the five best companies for investors to buy now...

See The Five Stocks Here

The article "This Forgotten EV Stock Just Reported Strong Earnings" first appeared on MarketBeat.