Nio Q2 Earnings Results Top Estimates, EV Maker To Deliver 3 New Vehicles In 2022

Chinese EV maker Nio, Inc. NIO announced Wednesday second-quarter results that exceeded estimates and guided to strong deliveries and revenues for the third quarter. Vehicle margins, however, slipped sequentially. The company also said it's on track to launch three new vehicles in 2022.

Key Nio Q2 Metrics: Nio reported a second-quarter loss of $52 million, or a loss of 3 cents per share, on a non-GAAP basis. This compares to the year-ago loss of 18 cents per share and the consensus loss estimate of 11 cents per share.

Revenues came in at $1.3084 billion, up 127.2% from the year-ago's $550.47 million and exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.298 billion. The company had previously guided to second-quarter revenues of $1.243 billion to $1.298 billion.

Vehicle sales accounted for $1.2254 billion or 93.7% of the total revenues.

In the first quarter, the manufacturer of premium EVs reported a narrower loss of 4 cents per share on revenues of $1.22 billion.

Second-quarter vehicle margin was at 20.3% compared to 21.2% in the first quarter. A year-ago, vehicle margin was at 9.7%.

Nio ended the second quarter with a cash balance of $7.5 billion compared to the $7.3 billion at the end of the first quarter.

Related Link: Tesla's July Deliveries Tumble 69% Month-Over-Month In China, Underperforming Nio, XPeng, Li Auto

Nio's Deliveries Momentum Slows: Nio delivered 21,896 vehicles in the second quarter. This represented an increase from the 20,060 vehicles the company delivered in the first quarter.

Despite the quarter-over-quarter increase, the pace of deliveries growth has slowed. In April and May, Nio's deliveries were down month-over-month but in June, the company registered a sequential increase.

The month-over-month decline resumed in July, with the global semiconductor shortage blamed for the predicament. Nio delivered 7,931 vehicles in July, down about 2% month-over-month but a 125% year-over-year increase.

"While the global supply chain still faces uncertainties, we have been working closely with our partners to improve the overall supply chain production capacity," said William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio.

Li also said Nio remains committed to further expanding its power network, increasing its service and sales coverage, and more importantly, accelerating its product and technology development.

Nio On Track With European Expansion Plan: Nio, which officially announced its Norway foray in early May, has made progress in its expansion into the European nation.

The first batch of Nio home charging piles and superchargers were shipped to Norway in early July, with the goal of delivering them to Norwegian users in September. The company plans to sell its ES8 model in Norway, to start with.

Rumors suggest the company is contemplating setting up its European headquarters in Amsterdam. It's also scouting for opportunity to set up shop in other European nations such as Germany and the U.K., reports say.

Product Pipeline Broadens: Nio is all set to commercially launch its first-ever sedan, codenamed ET7, in the first quarter of 2022. The second model to be sold in Norway will be the ET7, the company had said at the time of its Norway entry.

"We aim to deliver three new products based on the NIO Technology Platform 2.0 in 2022, including ET7, a flagship premium smart electric sedan," Li said Wednesday.

Speculation over a mass market model under a different brand name is also swirling on the Street.

Related Link: EV Stock 2021 Halftime Scorecard: Tesla Bogged Down By China Worries, Nio Underperforms And More

Nio's Forward Outlook: Nio guided to third-quarter deliveries of 23,000 to $25,000, up an estimated 88.4%-104.8% from a year-ago and 5%-14.2% higher than from the previous quarter.

The company also said it expects third-quarter revenues of $1.3804 billion to $1.4917 billion. This represents an increase of about 96.9%-112.8% from the same quarter of 2020, and an increase of approximately 5.5-14% from the second quarter of 2021.

Nio Shares Locked In a Range: After scaling an all-time peak of $66.99 on Jan. 11, Nio's shares were rangebound until mid-February. The stock then retreated and hit a low of $30.71 in mid-May.

Nio bounced back from the low and began tracing an uptrend and in the process hit a near-term peak of $55.13 July 1, only to pull back subsequently. The stock is currently locked in the $40-$46 trading range.

In after-hours trading Wednesday, Nio shares were up 0.52% to $44.20.

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