Stocks to buy

EV stocks haven’t done very well after the tech selloffs, but the underlying businesses have continued to slowly grow. The future is indeed electric, and it is important to invest in the most promising EV stocks before they recover.

Not all EV stocks are a good bet right now. There’s no clear winner in 2023 as Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) margins have slowed down, which was the metric widely used to show investors that it is a better bet than its faster-growing competitors. Meanwhile, smaller competitors have shown mixed performance as some struggle while others have posted impressive delivery numbers.

In this article, we’ll look at three under-the-radar EV stocks that seen impressive numbers:

ChargePoint (CHPT)

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ChargePoint (NASDAQ:CHPT) isn’t a direct EV play, but it’s a company that’ll do great with the acceleration of electric sales. The company operates over 100,000 EV charging stations across the U.S. It has also greatly benefited from the current administration’s EV push by receiving grants and incentives.

ChargePoint has consistently delivered revenue growth in the range of 90-100% for the past five quarters. Analysts expect CHPT to start narrowing its losses by next year, which would solve the biggest reason behind its decline. Once that issue is solved, I expect substantial upside potential here.

Polestar (PSNY)

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Polestar (NASDAQ:PSNY) is a Swedish EV startup that has been struggling and has remained in relative obscurity despite its impressive delivery numbers. The company delivered 51,500 cars, up 80% year-over-year in 2022, and Q1 deliveries reached 12,076 cars, up 26% YOY. Still, the stock tanked because guidance for 2023 was trimmed to 65,000 at the midpoint from the earlier 80,000 guidance.

But again, the EV industry is struggling, and Polestar’s metrics are nothing to scoff at. Its bigger competitor, Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN), delivered just 7,946 vehicles in Q1, while Lucid (NASDAQ:LCIDdelivered 1,406. Both companies are valued steeply, and while I agree they have higher growth, most of that is already priced in. On the other hand, Polestar is due for a lot more appreciation in the coming quarters as the pros of this company are yet to be priced in.

Li Auto (LI)

Source: Robert Way / Shutterstock.com

Unlike the majority of EV stocks, investors holding Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) are yet to feel the pinch this year. LI stock is up more than 40% year-to-date due to its impressive earnings. In light of these earnings, I believe it makes LI a better buy than some of the riskier bets in the market, like RIVN and Nio (NYSE:NIO).

In Q1, Li’s sales expanded by 96.9% YOY to $2.67 billion. If you think that was high, the company has guided revenue growth as high as 196.1% in Q2, with delivery growth at 173.7% at the midpoint. Thus, Li is definitely an excellent pick compared to many other languishing EV stocks.

Citigroup also raised its rating on LI stock last week, raising the price target to $54.3, implying a 84.44% upside potential.

On the date of publication, Omor Ibne Ehsan did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Omor Ibne Ehsan is a writer at InvestorPlace. He is a self-taught investor with a focus on growth and cyclical stocks that have strong fundamentals and long-term potential. He also has an interest in high-risk, high-reward investments such as cryptocurrencies and penny stocks. You can follow him on LinkedIn.