Why is Contemporary Amperex Technology stock sliding today?

Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) shares slid 8.0% to a 15-month low of HK$378.8 on Wednesday after the world’s largest EV battery maker posted third-quarter results that fell well short of market expectations.

Q3 net profit rose 14.5% year-over-year to 21.25 billion yuan — the slowest pace of earnings growth in nearly two years — and came in sharply below the roughly 26 billion yuan analysts had pencilled in. Revenue climbed 58.6% to 165.2 billion yuan but also missed consensus, as costs rose even faster than sales, squeezing margins.

The profit shortfall was driven by several compounding headwinds: a shift in product mix toward lower-margin items, the impact of China’s reinstated battery consumption tax, a reduction in export VAT rebates, and a sequential rise in asset impairment losses tied to volatile lithium carbonate prices.

Adding to the selling pressure, JPMorgan downgraded CATL’s H-shares to Neutral from Overweight and slashed its price target from HK$725 to HK$500, warning that industry profitability is deteriorating faster than expected and that profits across the EV supply chain are being redistributed.

Citi separately cut its H-share target and trimmed earnings forecasts for 2026 through 2028, also flagging that October production scheduling data from the top five battery makers showed output rising only about 1% month-over-month — far below the roughly 7% gain the market had anticipated.

CATL largely lagged a mild recovery in the Hang Seng index.