Dow Jones Newswires: XPeng shares slide after disappointing results, sales guidance

United States

Shares of XPeng Inc. fell sharply Wednesday morning in Hong Kong, after the Chinese electric-car maker posted a wider-than-expected loss and provided a conservative third-quarter sales forecast.

XPeng slid 12% to 73.20 Hong Kong dollars (US$ 9.33), taking its year-to-date losses to 61%. Its American depositary shares had also slumped 11% overnight.

Peers Li Auto Inc. LI, -4.83% and NIO Inc. NIO, -3.48% were down 5.9% and 3.7% in Hong Kong, respectively, while the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index HSI, -1.06% was 1% lower.

XPeng on Tuesday posted net loss of 2.70 billion yuan (US$ 395.0 million) for the three months ended June, compared with loss of CNY1.19 billion in the year-earlier period. That was worse than the consensus estimate for CNY1.89 billion loss in a FactSet poll of analysts.

Revenue for the period also came in slightly below analysts’ forecasts at CNY7.44 billion.

XPeng guided for third-quarter sales volume of 29,000-31,000 vehicles, which Citi analysts said was “very conservative.” The Citi analysts lowered their 2022-2024 sales forecasts for XPeng, citing “multiple uncertainties, including the pandemic, consumption downgrade, and supply chain challenges” in a note.

Citi slashed its target price on XPeng’s H-shares to HK$ 107.17 from HK$ 198.38 and on its ADSs to $ 27.87 from $ 51.59. But the bank retained a buy rating on XPeng, saying its optimistic mid- to long-term view is unchanged.

Write to Clarence Leong at clarence.leong@wsj.com