NEW YORK, March 23, 2026, 5:15 PM EDT
NIO Inc. climbed 38 cents to $5.82 in late U.S. trading Monday, moving on heavy volume—almost 48.9 million shares traded. Wall Street bounced after President Donald Trump postponed planned strikes on Iranian power plants and oil prices dropped. “Things with economic sensitivity” logged Monday’s top moves, according to Bob Doll, chief investment officer at Crossmark Global Investments. Reuters
NIO’s out to prove this month’s profit isn’t just a flash in the pan. Fresh off its first-ever quarterly net profit, the Chinese EV maker set its sights on breaking even by 2026, rolling out plans to move thousands of cars overseas this year. But Chief Executive William Li flagged a risk—the ongoing memory chip shortage, which he said could even force “production suspension” in severe scenarios. Reuters
NIO’s numbers for March 10 packed a punch. Fourth-quarter revenue landed at 34.65 billion yuan ($4.95 billion). The automaker reported 124,807 deliveries, while vehicle margin moved up to 18.1% — that’s profit per car, ticking higher. Net profit attributable to shareholders came in at 122.4 million yuan ($17.5 million). “A major milestone in our operating performance,” CFO Stanley Yu Qu said of the quarter. NIO Inc.
NIO wasn’t the only name moving higher Monday. Xpeng climbed $1.32 to $18.87, while Li Auto picked up 43 cents, closing at $17.13. The action pointed to renewed appetite for Chinese EV stocks across the board.
Confidence remains shaky. Xpeng warned Friday that first-quarter revenue will fall short of analyst forecasts, blaming fierce price wars and weaker demand in China. Reuters noted that the caution also hit competitors NIO and BYD.
NIO reported delivering 20,797 vehicles in February, marking a 57.6% jump from the same month last year and pushing total deliveries to 1,045,571. The company also logged its 100 millionth battery swap—its system for exchanging drained batteries for fully charged packs—on Feb. 6.
For weeks, pressure has mounted in the market NIO targets. Back in February, Reuters flagged a 3% drop in global EV registrations for January, blaming reduced subsidies and a hike in China’s purchase tax for the slowdown in the top auto market.
The landscape is already shifting. Reuters reported earlier this month that slimmer incentives tipped the balance back to Volkswagen, which grabbed the China sales crown for January and February, while domestic EV players slipped. For NIO, that shadow looms over Monday’s surge: even with a stronger quarter, lingering buyer caution and fresh price sensitivity could limit any real upside.
