XPeng
,
the Chinese electric-vehicle maker, beat second-quarter bottom-line earnings estimates. Guidance for the third quarter also was pretty good, but it wasn’t enough to boost the stock price.
XPeng (ticker: XPEV) reported a second-quarter per-share loss of 22 cents from sales of $700 million, while Wall Street was looking for a loss of 31 cents a share from sales of $707 million. A year ago, XPeng reported a 46-cent loss from $1.1 billion in sales.
Despite the report, American depositary receipts of XPeng were off by 5.3% in midday trading, while the
was flat and the
was down 0.2%.
It isn’t just XPeng shares that were down. Shares of
(
) fell 5.5%.
(LI) stock declined 4.6%. Shares of Tesla (TSLA), the second-largest EV player in China behind
(1211.Hong Kong), were down 1.3%, while BYD stock fell 3.8% in overseas trading Friday.
The Chinese stock market appears to deserve the blame. The real estate company China
filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday, sending stock indexes lower. The
dropped 1% and Hong Kong’s
fell 2.1%.
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Despite the stock drop, XPeng’s numbers looked solid. For the third quarter, XPeng expects to deliver between 39,000 and 41,000 vehicles, representing a year-over-year increase of about 32% to 39%.
Getting back to growth is key for the company. XPeng delivered about 23,000 vehicles in the second quarter, down from just more than 34,000 delivered in the second quarter of 2022. Sales fell even as Chinese wholesale EV shipments rose roughly 40% to 1.4 million units in the second quarter.
Falling sales were one reason XPeng stock has been stuck somewhere between euphoria and despair.
XPeng stock has declined about 30% over the past 12 months. But shares have risen more than 60% over the past three months. Investors were encouraged by a surprise investment from
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(VOW3. Germany). The pair will develop two EVs for the Chinese market.
Shares peaked at over $23 in late July after the VW announcement. They closed at $15.65 Thursday, down more than 30% from that high. Price cuts on vehicles from several EV manufacturers, including Tesla, have stoked fears of weakening demand and a price war.
Management called out tougher competion and a rapidly evolving environment in a conference call to discuss the results, saying they are focused on cutting costs and managing cash flow. That’s a good idea as prices come down.
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XPeng has shares listed in Hong Kong and the U.S. Each U.S.-listed ADRs represents two shares of common stock.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
