Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Pony AI (NASDAQ:PONY)

Pony AI Inc. – Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:PONY) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 27,007 call options on the company. This is an increase of 367% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,788 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PONY. Macquarie Infrastructure initiated coverage on shares of Pony AI in a report on Monday, December 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Barclays started coverage on shares of Pony AI in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Pony AI in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $12.50 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Pony AI in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Pony AI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pony AI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.50.

Pony AI Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PONY traded down $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $9.14. 10,401,145 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,591,303. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.71. The company has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.39 and a beta of 6.26. Pony AI has a 52-week low of $4.11 and a 52-week high of $24.92.

More Pony AI News

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.)

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pony AI

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Pony AI by 268.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 836,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,818,000 after buying an additional 609,666 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pony AI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,623,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new position in Pony AI in the third quarter worth about $2,062,000. Carrhae Capital LLP purchased a new position in Pony AI in the third quarter worth about $6,686,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Pony AI during the third quarter worth approximately $9,509,000.

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.