CFO Louis Hsieh resigned from the company for personal reasons
The shares of electric carmaker Nio Inc (NYSE:NIO) are sinking even further into penny-stock territory, amid news the firm's chief financial officer (CFO), Louis T. Hsieh, will be resigning from his post for personal reasons. A search for a replacement has been initiated, with Hsieh's resignation taking effect on Wednesday, Oct. 30. The equity is now down 7.3% at $1.40 -- trading dangerously close to its early October record low of $1.19.
This comes a little over one month after the auto concern's fiscal second-quarter earnings report, which knocked NIO 20% lower on the day. The bear gap was just more of the same, though, as the shares have been in a steady decline since peaking above $10 in March. Since the beginning of August, the equity has only clocked two weekly wins -- the last coming in mid-September -- and sports a more than 80% year-to-date deficit.
Analyst coverage is mostly bearish, unsurprisingly, with 11 of 13 recommendations a "hold" or worse. The 12-month consensus price target of $3.42, however, is more than double the stock's current price. As such, price-target cuts could be on the horizon for NIO, should this negative price action continue.
Also unsurprisingly, short interest reached an all-time high of 192.97 million shares sold short, with the bears fully in control. In fact, these pessimistic positions make up a solid 27.8% of the stock's available float. However, with NIO shares trading just over a buck, there's not too much downside room left for the auto stock.