Pony AI (NASDAQ:PONY) Lowered to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

Pony AI (NASDAQ:PONY) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pony AI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 22nd. Macquarie Infrastructure initiated coverage on shares of Pony AI in a research report on Monday, December 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. CLSA started coverage on shares of Pony AI in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Pony AI in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Pony AI in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.50.

Pony AI Trading Down 6.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:PONY opened at $9.14 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.71. Pony AI has a 12-month low of $4.11 and a 12-month high of $24.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.39 and a beta of 6.26.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pony AI

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PONY. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in Pony AI during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Pony AI by 704.8% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,924 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Pony AI by 103.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 62,748 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pony AI during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Pony AI during the second quarter valued at approximately $64,000.

Key Headlines Impacting Pony AI

Here are the key news stories impacting Pony AI this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Partnership and Europe launch — Pony.ai partnered with Uber and Verne to launch Europe’s first commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb, signaling tangible international commercialization and a new addressable market. Reuters: China’s Pony.ai to more than double robotaxi fleet, debuts in Zagreb
• Positive Sentiment: Operations & revenue growth — The company highlighted steep YoY growth in robotaxi and fare-charging revenues and reiterated a target to scale to ~3,000 robotaxis across 20+ cities this year, supporting longer-term revenue trajectory. GlobeNewswire: PONY AI Inc. Scales with 160% Robotaxi Revenues Growth YoY
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish options flow — Unusually large call buying was reported (27,007 calls), suggesting speculative or hedged bullish positioning by traders shortly after results. (No direct article link available.)
• Neutral Sentiment: New analyst coverage — BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage with a “neutral” rating and a $12.50 price target, implying upside from current levels but a balanced view on near-term fundamentals. Finviz: Coverage note (BNP Paribas Exane)
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call transcripts available — Full Q4/2025 call transcripts were posted (useful for management color on unit economics, expansion cadence and margin targets). InsiderMonkey: Pony AI Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed/poor earnings reaction and quality concerns — Market commentary flagged an EPS miss and very weak margin metrics; Proactive noted shares tumbled after the report. Management reported a GAAP net profit largely driven by a $132.5M paper gain on trading securities, which raises questions about recurring profitability and earnings quality. Those factors drove the earlier steep sell-off and are weighing on the stock today. Proactive: Pony.ai shares slide as revenue falls despite robotaxi surge MarketBeat: Pony AI earnings summary and metrics
• Negative Sentiment: High volatility & mixed data — Very high volume, a large beta, and conflicting EPS figures (some sources report a small positive EPS, others a miss) increase short-term uncertainty and likely amplify downward price pressure as investors sort through which numbers to trust. (Background market data and transcripts cited above.)

About Pony AI

Pony.ai develops autonomous driving technologies for passenger and goods transportation. The company offers an end-to-end self-driving stack that combines perception, planning and control systems with proprietary hardware and software. Pony.ai’s solutions support robotaxi services and advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) deployments across urban and suburban environments.

Founded in late 2016 by James Peng and Sean Gong, Pony.ai operates research and development centers in Fremont, California, as well as in Guangzhou and Beijing, China.