Li Auto Shares Soar After Q4 Outperformance, Positive Guidance: Nio, XPeng Move In Sympathy

Li Auto Inc. LI shares were rallying on Monday after the Beijing-based electric vehicle start-up reported strong fourth-quarter revenue growth and guided to robust delivery and revenue growth for the first quarter.

What Happened: Li Auto reported a 41% year-over-year jump in fourth-quarter non-GAAP earnings to 967.6 million yuan or $140.3 million. This marked a reversal from the third-quarter non-GAAP loss of 1.24 billion yuan.

See Also: Best Electric Vehicle Stocks

The strong earnings growth came on the back of revenue climbing 66%, to 17.65 billion yuan or $2.56 billion, exceeding the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. As reported earlier in January, fourth-quarter deliveries rose 31.5% to 46,319 units.

"We successfully executed our growth strategy in 2022, cementing our leadership in the family SUV segment while holistically strengthening our business across R&D, supply chain, direct sales and servicing network," said Xiang Li, founder, chairman and CEO of the company.

CFO Tie Li said, "Our fourth quarter gross margin remained robust at 20.2% and our free cash flow was RMB3.26 billion, thanks to the strengths of our products, our disciplined cost management and focused execution."

The company launched its Li L7, a five-seat flagship family SUV, on Feb. 8.

Looking Ahead: For the first quarter, Li Auto expects deliveries of 52,000 and 55,000 vehicles, representing 64-73% growth. The Chinese EV maker expects fourth-quarter revenue to come in between $2.53 billion and $2.68 billion, up 83-93%. Analysts, on average, expect $2.53 billion in revenue for the first quarter.

Price Action: Li Auto shares, which closed Friday's session at $23.23, advanced about 5.73% to $24.56 in premarket trading on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Li Auto's peers Nio Inc. NIO and XPeng Inc. XPEV also rallied, with the former adding 3.44% to $9.63, while the latter gained 5.12% to $8.83.

Read Next: Tesla Doubles Model Y Output To 4,000 At Giga Berlin In Less Than 6 Months

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Posted In: NewsTrading IdeasChinaelectric vehiclesEVsWhy is it moving?
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!