Nio Inc (NYSE:NIO) stock is near the top of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today, last seen up 10% to trade at $5.38. The China-based EV company reported its first quarterly profit and fourth-quarter deliveries up 71% year-over-year, both of which are overshadowing a steeper-than-anticipated fourth-quarter loss.
The oil crisis in the Middle East is another tailwind for the EV sector, with peers Lucid Group (LCID) and Tesla (TSLA) up 4.8% and 1.3%, respectively. NIO is on track for its best single-session gain since Aug. 22. The shares are now above their year-to-date breakeven level and eyeing their highest close of the year.
Analysts have yet to chime in, but bull notes could keep the wind at the stock's back. Of the 16 brokerages covering NIO, 10 maintain "hold" or worse ratings, while the consensus 12-month price target of $6.60 is a 21% premium to the security's current perch.
There's modest short squeeze potential too. Short interest is 5.7% lower in the last month, yet the 147.25 million shares sold short account for 6.6% of NIO's total available float. At the stock's average pace of trading, it would take shorts more than three trading days to by back their bearish bets.
Call traders are responding in kind. In just the first half hour of trading, 189,000 calls have changed hands, volume that's five times the average intraday amount and seven times the number of puts exchanged. The weekly 3/13 5.50-strike call is the most popular, while there March 6 and June 5 calls are also seeing some attention.
