Xiaomi's Buyback Fails to Catch Falling Knife as EV Losses Deepen and Core Business Wobbles
23.06.2026 - 20:43:17 | boerse-global.de
Xiaomi’s stock has careened to a fresh 52-week low of €2.54, shrugging off a record HK$20 billion share buyback that has so far done little to arrest a 43% decline since the start of 2026. The Shenzhen-based electronics and automotive group repurchased 30.1 million shares in the first two weeks of June alone, yet the shares remain in freefall, with the relative strength index plunging to 20.7 — a level that screams extreme oversold but offers no guarantee of a rebound.
The elephant in the room is the electric vehicle division, which burned through 3.1 billion yuan in operating losses during the first quarter on revenue of 19.9 billion yuan. That translates to a staggering loss of roughly $5,600 for every car Xiaomi delivered. Weak demand for the premium SU7 Ultra model, combined with shrinking government purchase-tax subsidies and rising component costs, has crushed margins — the EV segment’s gross margin dropped to 20.1% from 23.2% a year earlier.
Delivery volumes are compounding the pain. Xiaomi handed over just 32,759 vehicles in May, an 11% slide from April, bringing the five-month cumulative tally to 150,317 units. The official annual target of 550,000 vehicles now looks almost unattainable: the company would need to average nearly 57,500 deliveries per month from June through December, yet its all-time monthly record stands at 50,000. Analysts at Jefferies have already trimmed their full-year forecast to 495,000 units.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Xiaomi?
Xiaomi’s response is an ambitious push into the range-extender (EREV) segment, where a large SUV — expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2026 under the new Skynomad sub-brand — aims to muscle in on Li Auto and Aito. Chinese media have spotted test vehicles that suggest the model, internally code-named N90, will offer up to 1,500 kilometres of total range and carry a price tag between 200,000 and 450,000 yuan. That undercuts Li Auto’s typical 250,000 yuan starting point, but the entire EREV market is shrinking. Wholesale sales of such vehicles plunged nearly 25% in May, the steepest monthly drop in five years, and Li Auto’s flagship L9 saw deliveries tumble 74% year-on-year in the first four months of 2026.
The company’s core smartphone business is not riding to the rescue either. Jefferies projects a 15% decline in handset volumes for 2026 — worse than the industry’s expected 11.6% slide — because 62% of Xiaomi’s 2024 phone sales came from models priced below $200, the segment most exposed to rising memory-chip costs that the broker expects to remain elevated well into 2027. The internet services unit provides a rare bright spot: advertising revenue climbed nearly 8% to 7.1 billion yuan, supported by a gross margin above 76%.
Xiaomi is spending heavily to turn the ship around, with a research and development budget of roughly 40 billion yuan for the full year. But for now, the market is singularly focused on the bleeding in the auto division. The next major event on the calendar is the second-quarter earnings release on August 26, when management will need to show concrete progress on narrowing EV losses — and prove that the Skynomad launch is more than just an announcement on paper.
Ad
Xiaomi Stock: New Analysis - 23 June
Fresh Xiaomi information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
