Xpeng (HKG: 9868) shares are up 5.4% in Hong Kong. The driver seems to be the announcement of sales and imports starting in Israel. Which is a nice enough market, to be fair, but that seems an excessive reaction to what is, after all, a fairly marginal market by volume. On the other hand it’s possible to see this as an indicator of the global ambition. Which way we want to think of it, well, like everything else in a stock market that’s up to the individual investor.
The news itself: “Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturer XPeng has reaffirmed its commitment to global expansion with a recent shipment of 750 electric vehicles to Israel. The shipment, the largest single batch for the year, underscores XPeng’s aggressive push to extend its presence beyond its domestic market.” Well, yes, 750 vehicles isn’t enough to produce a 5% rise in the value of the entire company. But perhaps that evidence of the push to become a global brand is enough?
It’s also true that shipments more generally are rising: “In September, XPeng achieved its eighth consecutive month-over-month growth of electric vehicle deliveries (globally). Last month, the Chinese company delivered 15,310 all-electric vehicles, which is 81 percent more than a year ago.” That still puts it in the second rank of EV manufacturers behind Tesla and BYD but it’s expanding fast.
Xpeng share price from Google Finance
But whether this is enough to support that share price rise? Well, that really depends upon overall views about the EV market. There are new vehicles at Xpeng: ““Xpeng Inc (NYSE:), a leading Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, has announced its upcoming launch of the XPENG G6 Ultra Smart Coupe SUV on June 29. This new model will mark the company's fifth addition to its lineup of intelligent electric vehicles.”” But there’s long been volatility in the stock: “XPEV stock is rather bouncing around on uncertainty both about the company’s own performance and also what’s happening within the Chinese EV market as a whole.” Some analysts are insisting they can see that that Chinese market is topping out - that market share is not ever-increasing.
Then, on yet another hand, there’s that exhortation from Xi Jinping, that Chinese auto manufacturers should be expanding globally in order to create the new Chinese brands.
In the end what this all depends upon is not the desires and plans but how well they are brought to fruition.
