EV maker WM Motor considers $1bn Hong Kong IPO

In today’s top stories, WM Motor considers a Hong Kong debut, short sellers rake in close to $7bn from Tesla bets and Facebook’s stock ticker is set to change to METV. In other news, Blackstone acquires Advarra for $5bn and Credit Suisse names its top undervalued growth stock picks. 

Short sellers’ Tesla profit.

Bill Gates is far from the only investor to be shorting Tesla [TSLA]. Data from Ortex Research provided to MarketWatch reveals that short sellers raked in $6.8bn between the start of the year and 27 May's close betting against the EV manufacturer. The Tesla share price has spluttered year-to-date, down 37% so far.

Electric roundup.

It’s been a busy past couple of days for the EV industry. Chinese manufacturer WM Motor is mulling a $1bn IPO in Hong Kong, reports Bloomberg. Domestic rival XPeng [XPEV] has reported a 78% year-over-year increase in vehicle deliveries in May, while Nio [NIO] built 34 battery swap stations and 37 supercharging stations across China last month. Meanwhile, the production picture at Rivian [RIVN] is looking better, says Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh.

Undervalued growth picks.

The valuations of growth stocks have been battered this year, but some have taken too much of a bruising, according to a Credit Suisse note seen by CNBC. The firm has identified a number of picks, whose share prices have collapsed more than 40% from their respective peaks. These include Nvidia [NVDA], Tesla [TSLA] and Lululemon [LULU]. “Clearly, growth is long duration and thus tends to underperform when the cost of equity rises,” wrote global strategist Andrew Garthwaite.

Meta’s ticker change.

In big tech news, Meta [FB] is getting a new ticker for continuity purposes: META. The change is only possible after Roundhill relinquished META for its Ball Metaverse ETF [METV] in January. The ETF saw big inflows back in October following Facebook’s rebrand announcement, according to Bloomberg, suggesting that some investors may have got confused amid all the excitement. The ticker will be updated on 9 June.

Blackstone’s biopharma push.

Drug research company Advarra is the target of a $5bn acquisition by Blackstone [BX] and a deal should be announced within days, sources have told Bloomberg. The private equity investment firm has experience in the biopharma space and, in 2020, invested $2bn in Alnylam [ALNY]. The firm’s life sciences division has helped bring 114 medicines to market in 17 different therapeutic areas, according to its website.

Polymetal’s demerger dilemma.

Western sanctions have hit Russian gold and this is weighing on Polymetal’s [POLY.L] valuation, according to Berenberg analysts, who’ve slashed their share price target from 500p to 300p. There is talk that the miner may separate its Russian and Kazakh businesses, but it has a buffer that will allow it to fulfil its capital commitments this year even if a merger doesn’t materialise.

Thungela’s share buyback bid.

Soaring gas prices and Russia cutting supplies to Europe has seen many counties turn to coal. This has helped the Thungela [TGA.L] share price to jump more than 110% since the start of the war in Ukraine. The South African miner, which was spun off from Anglo American’s [AAL.L] former coal operations in the country last summer, failed to get shareholder approval for a buyback last week.