Given the accelerating penetration of EVs and the lack of high-quality listed EV names, there is large appetite for EV exposure in the mainland, said Edison Yu.
Xpeng Motor's Hong Kong-traded shares were today included in a mechanism that connects the Hong Kong and mainland stock markets, allowing investors in the mainland to buy them, making it the first electric vehicle company to do so.
Edison Yu, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, commented on this in a subsequent note titled "First through the door."
Xpeng's inclusion in the mechanism, which came about a week earlier than Deutsche Bank had previously expected, should be a natural tailwind for the stock by enabling mainland investors to more easily acquire shares, Yu said.
"We continue to believe there is large appetite for EV exposure in the Mainland given accelerating penetration (>20% exiting 2021) and lack of high quality listed EV names (CATL is the de-facto standard with market cap of nearly 200bn USD). Xpeng also provides exposure to autonomous/mobility optionality," Yu wrote.
As of press time, Xpeng's stock traded in Hong Kong was up about 10 percent.
Notably, its local counterpart Li Auto, which was listed in Hong Kong about a month after Xpeng, could be the next new energy vehicle company to be included in the Hong Kong-Mainland stock link.
"Looking ahead, we expect Li Auto's H-shares to gain inclusion as well in mid-March which should provide a boost to shares," Yu said.
The Stock Connect mechanism was launched in November 2014 to facilitate investors in Hong Kong and the mainland to buy each other's shares.
With access to the list, mainland Chinese investors will be able to trade their shares more easily, although only investors with securities accounts with assets of more than RMB 500,000 are eligible to participate in the mechanism.
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