Analyst likes these 4 EV stocks — and says one is 'head and shoulders' above others

Published Wed, May 17 202311:32 PM EDTUpdated Thu, May 18 202312:18 AM EDT

Lee Ying Shan @in/ying-shan-lee @LeeYingshan

The electric vehicle market is still a "long way" from a shakeout, according to consulting firm Sino Auto Insights. China's EV market has been roiled by Tesla 's aggressive price cuts and the country's government ended subsidies for EV buyers. But Sino Auto Insights' managing director, Tu Le, is still bullish on EV giant Tesla and its Chinese counterpart BYD. "BYD has still been able to be head and shoulders above everyone else, and not only in the Chinese market, but they're the number one brand for EVs in Israel and Thailand," he said. There are still new players coming in and so the shakeout is coming for the weaker players, but the competition's really just begun in the China market... Sino Auto Insights Tu Le BYD is by far the largest domestic seller of electric cars in China. "Their tentacles are extending out to other countries ... They're currently selling EVs in 52 countries. So BYD is a machine that's going to keep on going." As for Tesla, "there's rumored to be a refresh on the model three later this summer. So that can really build some momentum for Tesla again," he said. In the first quarter, BYD reported selling 264,647 purely battery-powered passenger cars in the first three months of the year up more than 80% from a year ago . Tesla said it delivered more than 422,000 cars worldwide in the same period. Tesla reported a 24% decline in net income from last year, dropping to $2.51 billion from $3.32 billion. The decline in earnings was attributed to the "underutilization of new factories," higher raw material and logistics costs, among other factors. "I think that due to the messiness of China getting out of Covid we're really seeing that price war take effect and some of the weaker players are either running out of capital are just exiting the market." It may be quite a different picture for the EV giants, however. "I still see it taking another 24 [to] 36 months before we really see how this shakes out among the top players," he said. Other bright spots Tu acknowledges that Tesla and BYD are the EV market's top two players, but sees promise in some emerging ones. "I do see a bright spot for Xpeng for Nio, and there are new brands that are going to be coming out like G2 Auto," he said. Tu said emerging brands like the "Xpengs and the Nios" could sell almost 300,000 units this year. "There are still new players coming in and so the shakeout is coming for the weaker players, but the competition's really just begun in the China market when it comes to some of the more premium brands."