Nio Reports Wider Q4 Loss Despite Revenues Topping $1B

Nio Inc – ADR NIO reported mixed quarterly results, with in-line fourth-quarter revenues but a wider-than-expected loss. The revenue guidance for the first quarter was above consensus estimates. The EV maker also announced a month-over-month decline in deliveries for February.

Key Nio Q4 Metrics: The Chinese EV startup said its fourth-quarter revenues climbed 133.16% year-over-year and increased 46.7% quarter-over-quarter to 6.64 billion yuan or $1.018 billion. Excluding items, the non-GAAP loss per share was 0.93 yuan, or 14 cents.

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Analysts, on average, had estimated a loss of 7 cents per share on revenues of $1.01 billion.

In the same period last year, the company reported a loss of 39 cents per share and revenues of $406.99 million, and in the preceding third quarter, revenues were at $666.6 million and the non-GAAP loss per share was 12 cents.

Nio had earlier guided to fourth-quarter revenues of $921.8 million to $947.9 million.

Vehicle sales came in at $946.2 million, up 130% from a year ago and 44.7% higher than in the previous quarter.

Fourth-quarter vehicle margin was at 17.2% compared to a negative 6% in the year-ago quarter and a positive 14.5% in the previous quarter.

Cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investment was at $6.5 billion at the end of 2020.

"With steadily increasing deliveries, stable average selling price, improving material cost and manufacturing efficiency, our vehicle margin reached 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Moreover, we achieved positive cash flow from operating activities for the fourth quarter and the full fiscal year of 2020," said CFO Wei Feng.

Related Link: Nio To Begin Exporting EVs To Europe In Second Half Of 2021: Report

Nio's Deliveries Momentum Falters In February: Nio confirmed in early January it delivered 17,353 vehicles in the fourth quarter, a 111% year-over-year growth. The deliveries momentum accelerated further at the start of 2021, with January deliveries climbing over 350% to 7,225 vehicles.

In the earnings release, the company disclosed February numbers, which came in at 5,578, comprising, 1,327 ES8s, 2,216 ES6s and 2,035 EC6s.

Nio's Q1 Outlook: Nio said it expects to deliver 20,000 to 20,500 vehicles for the quarter.

The company guided to first-quarter revenues of $1.13 billion to $1.158 billion, representing over 400% year-over-year growth, while analysts estimate revenues of $718.49 million.

Nio Stock: After Nio's 1,110% advance in 2020, the stock began the new year on solid footing. The stock raced to an all-time high of $66.99 immediately after its Jan. 9 Nio Day. Since then, the stock has seeing extreme volatility.

The broader market weakness has exerted further pressure on the stock, dragging it down to a new low of $41.66 earlier last week. The stock has regained some of the lost ground and has added 2.09% for the year-to-date period.

Nio shares trade at a price/sales ratio of around 28.5 compared to bigger rival Tesla Inc's TSLA 23.3.

In after-hours trading, the stock was down 3.82% at $47.86.