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

WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 12,625,243 shares, a growth of 20.2% from the March 15th total of 10,506,887 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,722,145 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days. Approximately 4.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. raised its stake in WeRide by 3,516.8% in the third quarter. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. now owns 842,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,340,000 after purchasing an additional 819,098 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in WeRide in the third quarter valued at about $4,404,000. Carrhae Capital LLP acquired a new position in WeRide in the third quarter valued at about $16,153,000. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in WeRide in the third quarter valued at about $6,732,000. Finally, Ariose Capital Management Ltd acquired a new position in WeRide in the third quarter valued at about $2,569,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of WeRide in a research note on Monday, January 19th. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on WeRide in a report on Thursday, March 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of WeRide in a report on Friday, March 27th. HSBC began coverage on WeRide in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $11.40 price target for the company. Finally, CLSA began coverage on WeRide in a report on Monday, January 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $13.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.48.

WeRide Stock Performance

WRD opened at $8.21 on Friday. WeRide has a fifty-two week low of $6.01 and a fifty-two week high of $12.55. The company has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.95 and a beta of 2.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.25 and a 200-day moving average of $8.48.

WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 23rd. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter. WeRide had a negative return on equity of 24.38% and a negative net margin of 240.54%.The firm had revenue of $44.88 million for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts predict that WeRide will post -0.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.