The Tesla of China is soaring as it shakes off its first 'underperform' rating

REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

• Nio, known as the Tesla of China, is up more than 22% on Thursday despite receiving its first "underperform" rating.
• The Chinese electric-car maker debuted on US public markets on Wednesday.
• Watch Nio trade in real time here.

Nio, known as the Tesla of China, is soaring, up more than 22%, during its second day of trading as a public company on US markets despite receiving an "underperform" rating.

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported Bernstein analyst Robin Zhu slapped an "underperform" rating on shares with a price target of $4.20 - some 36% below where shares settled on their first day of trading. Zhu sees a capital raise coming in the next 12 to 18 months.

The Chinese electric-car maker that's backed by Tencent had a dissapointing debut on US public markets Wednesday as shares opened at $6 apiece, shy of the $6.26 initial-public-offering price. Nio raised $1 billion through the IPO, missing the $1.8 billion that it had targeted.

And while Nio's IPO was a big one, it's not the largest by a Chinese firm on US markets this year. iQiyi, known as the Netflix of China, raised $2.42 billion from a Nasdaq IPO in March. Pinduoduo, an online group discounter, is the second largest at $1.63 billion.

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