By Michael Elkins
Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating and $35.00 price target on Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) after the electric automaker reported delivery numbers for October. The company reported 10,052 units of vehicle deliveries in October. A 13% drop from September, but up 31% when compared to the same time last year.
According to Morgan Stanley's simulation, sales of the company's Li One remained low at somewhere below 1,000 models. Over 90% of the sales are being contributed by the L9, which saw a significant lift in late October likely thanks to an easing supply bottleneck.
Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note, "We think October sales met market consensus and corroborated the company’s execution in production and delivery, albeit persistent component crunch. Meanwhile, stable deliveries of L9 hovering around 10k for the second consecutive month should ease market concerns over slowing L9 demand and underpin volume upside into Nov/Dec when contribution from L8 starts kicking in."
Li Auto also opened three new retail stores last month; its total sales network was 274 stores as at end-October in 119 cities.
Shares of LI are up 9.18% in pre-market trading on Tuesday.