Li Auto stock falls again, after public share offering prices at 10% discount
Tomi Kilgore
Shares on track for 7th-straight loss, have plunged 26.5% over past 6 days; Nio and XPeng stocks also extend selloffs
Shares of Li Auto Inc. dropped in premarket trading Friday, putting them on track for a seventh-straight decline, after the China-based electric vehicle maker's public share offering priced at a discount of more than 10%.
The company said the 47 million share secondary offering of its U.S.-listed stock, which it disclosed before Wednesday's open (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/li-autos-stock-erases-gains-after-delivery-data-as-other-china-based-ev-makers-keep-falling-11606910719), had priced at $29.00 per American depositary share (ADS). That was 10.3% below Thursday's stock closing price of $32.31.
The stock (LI) sank 5.1% ahead of Friday's open. It has plunged 26.5% amid a six-day losing streak through Thursday, which started after the stock closed at a record $43.96 on Nov. 24.
Li Auto raised $1.36 billion from the share offering, and could raise about another $204.5 million if the underwriters exercise all of the options to buy additional shares, granted to cover overallotments.
The company plans to use the proceeds for research and development of next-generation electric vehicle technologies, including ultrafast charging, future car models, autonomous driving technologies and general corporate purposes.
In the two days since the offering was announced, the stock fell 7.3%. If the offering had priced at a 10.3% discount to the Dec. 1 closing price of $34.86, the 47 million ADS offering could have raised $1.47 billion.
Among other China-based EV makers, shares of Nio Inc. (NIO) slid 1.5% in Friday's premarket, after shedding 16.0% so far this week through Thursday. XPeng Inc.'s stock (XPEV) declined 2.6% premarket, after tumbling 19.4% week to date.
Also read: XPeng downgraded at UBS, as stock has run up too much to keep buying (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/xpeng-downgraded-at-ubs-as-stock-has-run-up-too-much-to-keep-buying-11607004263).
The pullback in the stocks Friday comes as the iShares MSCI China exchange-traded fund (MCHI) edged up 0.4% in premarket trading and futures for the S&P 500 index tacked on 0.3%.
Elsewhere, shares of Kandi Technologies Group Inc. (KNDI) gained 0.5% ahead of Friday's open, Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. (0175.HK) were indicated up about 0.6% and BYD Co. climbed 1.6%.
-Tomi Kilgore; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 04, 2020 08:32 ET (13:32 GMT)
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