Short Interest in WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD) Increases By 20.2%

Key Points

• Short interest in WeRide rose by 20.2% in March to 12,625,243 shares (about 4.0% of shares sold short), leaving a short‑interest ratio of 1.3 days based on average daily volume.
• WeRide reported quarterly EPS of ‑$0.24 on revenue of $44.88 million, carries a negative net margin of ‑240.54% and a market cap of $2.55 billion, with analysts projecting ~‑0.68 EPS for the fiscal year.
• Large institutional buying has occurred (e.g., China UAE Investment Cooperation Fund’s new $67.4M position; Temasek +119.7%), and analyst coverage skews positive with a consensus “Moderate Buy” and a $12.48 price target.

WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 12,625,243 shares, an increase of 20.2% from the March 15th total of 10,506,887 shares. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 9,722,145 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

WeRide Price Performance

Shares of WeRide stock opened at $8.04 on Friday. WeRide has a 1 year low of $6.01 and a 1 year high of $12.55. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.72 and a beta of 2.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $7.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.49.

WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 23rd. The company reported ($0.24) EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $44.88 million during the quarter. WeRide had a negative return on equity of 24.38% and a negative net margin of 240.54%. As a group, research analysts expect that WeRide will post -0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of WeRide

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. China UAE Investment Cooperation Fund L.P. acquired a new position in shares of WeRide during the 4th quarter valued at $67,443,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of WeRide by 55.3% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 4,621,712 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,770,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645,769 shares in the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of WeRide by 198.5% during the 4th quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. now owns 4,175,181 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,241,000 after acquiring an additional 2,776,381 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of WeRide by 119.7% during the 4th quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 2,978,803 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of WeRide by 89.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,768,106 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,027,000 after acquiring an additional 1,305,321 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WRD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of WeRide in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of WeRide in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of WeRide in a research report on Friday, March 27th. CLSA started coverage on shares of WeRide in a research report on Monday, January 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $13.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HSBC started coverage on shares of WeRide in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $11.40 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WeRide currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $12.48.

WeRide Company Profile

WeRide Inc NASDAQ: WRD is a developer of autonomous driving technology focused on providing Level 4 (L4) self-driving solutions for passenger mobility and logistics. The company's full-stack platform integrates sensors, computing hardware, software algorithms and vehicle controls to enable driverless taxis, shuttles and goods delivery vehicles. By combining perception, planning and controls in a turnkey system, WeRide aims to accelerate the commercialization of robotaxi services and autonomous fleet operations.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Guangzhou, China, WeRide maintains research and development centers in Silicon Valley and China.

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