Shares of electric vehicle maker Nio (NIO) have ballooned nearly 50% over the past month, not because of any flashy news, but because institutional investors are quietly backing the truck.
NIO is up more than 11% over the past five trading sessions and just reclaimed the $5 level for the first time since March. Since bottoming out in April, the stock has surged more than 60%, pushing its market cap back above $10 billion.
Fueling the latest leg higher was a regulatory filing showing that Kingstone Capital Partners — a private family office focused on alternatives, real estate, and private equity — scooped up nearly 3.6 million shares, building a $12.3 million stake in Nio.
And Kingstone isn’t alone.
According to Quiver Quantitative, at least 155 institutional investors have increased their exposure to NIO so far in 2025. That list includes major players like UBS Group AG, UBS Asset Management, and Bank of America.
In capital-intensive industries like EVs where execution risk is high and the path to profitability is long, institutional confidence often signals deep research and long-term conviction.
What’s under the hood?
Headquartered in Shanghai, Nio designs and manufactures high-end electric vehicles with standout features like battery-swapping tech and in-house autonomous driving systems.
The company has set an ambitious target to deliver 440,000 vehicles in 2025. So far, it’s sold approximately 114,000 units in the first half, a 30% year-over-year increase.
But to hit that target, Nio would need to deliver around 330,000 vehicles in in the second half of 2025. Zacks Investment Research doesn’t buy that ambition, warning that execution risks remain despite strong recent momentum.
On the other hand, the company’s financials are moving in the right direction.
According to its unaudited Q1 results, Nio posted $1.658 billion in total revenue, up 21.5% year-over-year. Gross profit hit $125.6 million, an 88.5% jump, and vehicle sales reached $1.369 billion, up nearly 19%.
Perhaps most notably, vehicle margins improved to 10.2%, suggesting the company is gaining pricing power while tightening cost controls.
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