Wall Street looked poised for another day of lackluster moves early Tuesday morning. Market participants have started to second-guess whether their optimism during November was fully warranted, as inflationary pressures still remain above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Meanwhile, some worry that the economy might not cooperate, especially if consumers don't have the staying power to make the holiday shopping season the success that so many retailers need. Stock market index futures were down as much as half a percent in the premarket session.
However, electric vehicles (EVs) remain a hotbed of innovation, and Chinese EV manufacturer Nio (NIO -4.48%) saw its stock rise after the company released its most recent financial results. Posting even bigger gains was GitLab (GTLB -2.96%), which has tapped into the artificial intelligence (AI) movement to bolster its business. Here's the latest on both stocks.
Nio charges up
Shares of Nio rose about 4% in premarket trading early Tuesday. The Chinese EV company's third-quarter financial results showed massive gains from year-ago levels, offering evidence that demand in China for electric vehicles remains strong.
Investors had already known about Nio's delivery figures, which rose 75% year over year to 55,432 vehicles. Nio had a roughly two-thirds/one-third split between its SUV and sedan models, and volume more than doubled from where it was three months ago. Nio also announced new expansion plans, as it acquired equipment and assets from state-owned automaker Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group for roughly $445 million.
Financially, Nio's results were a bit more mixed. Total revenue climbed 47% year over year on a 46% rise in vehicle sales. However, margin performance weakened, leading to a decline in gross profit. An adjusted loss of $542 million was steeper than in the year-ago period as well.
Looking ahead, Nio sees ways to cut costs and get itself moving toward profitability. That will be an essential element of the EV maker's long-term success, particularly given how much competition there is in the Chinese EV market right now.
AI helps GitLab
Elsewhere, shares of GitLab jumped 13% in the premarket session early Tuesday. The developer, security, and operations software specialist reported fiscal third-quarter financial results for the period ended Oct. 31 that gave shareholders confidence the company would participate in the continued adoption of AI-related technology.
GitLab put in a strong showing in its fundamental business. Revenue climbed 32% year over year to $150 million. Somewhat surprisingly, GitLab posted positive adjusted net income of $14.4 million, which worked out to $0.09 per share and reversed a loss in the year-earlier period.
More customers are investing more money in GitLab's platform for their own business use. Customers spending more than $100,000 annually on the platform climbed 37% from 12 months ago to 874, and dollar-based net retention rates stayed strong at 128%.
A big part of that client interest appears to be coming from the GitLab Duo suite of artificial intelligence capabilities. The company made several updates to GitLab Duo during the period, including the release of the natural-language AI assistant Duo Chat to help analyze software code, assist with planning, detect and resolve security issues, and troubleshoot other problems. In addition, the AI-powered Code Suggestions suite provides a more efficient method to create and update code, while the beta release of its Vulnerability Summary uses AI-generated explanations to tell clients about security threats.
GitLab expects to stay profitable on an adjusted basis in the fourth quarter and for the full fiscal year. That's good news in an environment in which profits are more important than ever, and it shows that AI companies don't have to be money-losers even during high-growth phases.
