VinFast stock falls 85% from August high

Photo credit: VinFast

Following its IPO, VinFast was the world’s third-largest automaker by market capitalization. But that stint turned out to be brief, as its stock fell roughly 84.4% over the last month.

This values the Vietnamese electric-car brand at US$30 billion, a far cry from the roughly US$200 billion it commanded in late August. At the time, due to an almost 800% rally in stock price, VinFast was only behind Tesla and Toyota in terms of size.

The Asian Investor, an analyst on Seeking Alpha, had said that VinFast had “an unsustainable market cap” last month. But even after this significant decrease, the analyst still called VinFast “hopelessly overvalued” in a September 20 note.

VinFast was hit with many hurdles even before its listing. After the company got its first sets of wheels rolling on US streets, its VF8 models were bombarded with negative reviews.

The company delivered just 11,315 units for the first half of 2023, less than a quarter of its yearly sales goal of 50,000 cars. Most of the delivered units were also for Green and Smart Mobility, the taxi firm owned by VinFast founder (and Vingroup chair) Pham Nhat Vuong, though it has also signed a deal with Taxi Xanh Sapa.

A factor that may generate some upside for VinFast is its expansion plans outside the US.

Le Thi Thu Thuy, VinFast’s CEO, recently told Reuters that the company is planning to ship the first batch of EVs to Europe after securing regulatory approval. Previously, the company was also reportedly eyeing India and Indonesia.

See also: Vingroup founder’s EV play revs up Vietnam’s ride-hailing race