Tesla (TSLA  ) and NIO (NIO  ) are both up more than 10% over the last few trading sessions with one catalyst being the company reporting Q4 deliveries that exceeded expectations. Like many automakers, the main struggle for these companies is the shortage and unavailability of key components that are preventing factories from running at full production.

These issues have become exacerbated over the last few months due to the shutdowns which have stressed supply chains and led to backlogs in production and transportation. A contributing factor is the lockdowns in parts of Asia to curb the spread of COVID. However, the demand side remains strong as evidenced by used car prices and economic data like consumer spending, unemployment rate, and household savings. Based on these recent figures, it also seems that the supply side is rapidly improving as well.

A final challenge for NIO and TSLA is the weakness in growth stocks due to a hawkish Federal Reserve. This has caused weakness in many EV stocks over the last year. In these environments, investors will favor companies with more tangible prospects rather than companies that are priced for future growth. Thus, the delivery data was a welcome reminder that these companies are getting closer to realizing their potential.

Tesla's stocks soared 12% following the company's Q4 delivery figure which came in at 308,000, an 87% increase from last year and significantly topping Wall Street expectations. These types of figures and growth are such a positive tailwind for the stock that it overwhelms the bearish headwind from rising rates.

NIO is a slightly different story. It's farther back than Tesla in terms of its production schedule, and it's being punished along with other Chinese stocks as there is constant chatter about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) putting on more burdensome regulations, or the Chinese government not allowing domestic companies to list internationally. So, it's not surprising that Nio is down more than 50% from its 2021 high.

However, the stock did have an impressive bounce at the end of the year with a more than 15% gain following the end of tax-loss selling. It added to this positive momentum with its December delivery figure of 10,500 which was 50% higher than last year. While this caused a brief surge higher for the stock, it was clearly not enough to change its trajectory as investors chose to take profits into this gap-up. Nio has retraced about a third of its gains and based on the strength in rates looks likely to retest these lows in the coming weeks.