Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund run by billionaire investor Ray Dalio, is now holding shares in Chinese EV maker NIO, despite in a small amount.
As of June 30, the Bridgewater fund valued at about $6 billion held 856,026 shares in NIO ADS worth $6.6 million, according to an SEC filing dated August 12.
The Westport, Connecticut-based firm has a total asset under management of about $148 billion, down from roughly $160 billion at the start of the year.
As with the NIO holdings, the 856,026 shares now worth $17 million as of Thursday's close of $19.87. It means if there is no change in Bridgewater's holdings in NIO, the fund has seen a 157 percent gain in the holdings.
NIO is a luxury Chinese EV maker with three models on sale - the ES8, ES6, and the EC6. The EC6 became available just last month and has started shipping out of the factory and will be delivered to owners soon.
NIO stock is a darling by Wall Street firms.
Earlier this month, Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu said a research note that there is an emerging class of Chinese automakers backed by large, well-capitalized tech titans and "ambitious" local governments looking to disrupt the auto industry: NIO, Xpeng, Li Auto, and WM Motor.
Given its stronger brand perception, higher sales volume, focus on the premium SUV segment, and "battle-tested" operational track record, NIO is the leader of "Fab Four", said the analyst.
Yu said all the four EV makers can co-exist with Tesla in China "as there is still plenty of runways to capture market share away from traditional ICE automakers."
With the China electric vehicle market already the world's largest and now "inflecting upward after the recent downturn," NIO is well-positioned to take a share in the premium segment, said Yu.
Credit Suisse analyst Bin Wang had also raised the price target of NIO by 42.86 percent from $17.50 to $25, a new Wall Street high, with an “outperform” rating.
At the end of August, UBS raised its rating for NIO from "sell" to "neutral", bumping its price target from $1.00 to $16.30 which represents a jump of 1,530%.
NIO shares have gone up by about 10 fold since the low in March as of Thursday's close.
