NIO delivers record number of EVs in Q3 but sets below consensus outlook

Shares of Chinese auto manufacturer NIO (NYSE:NIO) are under pressure into Wednesday’s open as the company’s record number of deliveries in the third quarter was overshadowed by the company’s outlook for Q4 that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.

The stock is down 2.4% in premarket trading.

In the third quarter, NIO (NIO) delivered a record number of EVs, an 11.6% increase from a year ago and 7.8% gain from the previous quarter. This resulted in an increase in revenue from the previous quarter to $2.66B in Q3, although down 2.1% from a year ago. Gross profit improved by 31.8% to $286M, while the company’s adjusted net loss widened 11.6% year-over-year to ($628.8M), or a loss per ADS of $0.31, which was in-line with expectations. The vehicle margin widened to 13.1%, representing a 210 basis points improvement from a year ago.

“The fact that NIO reported on its bottom line without a miss says a lot, as in the last three years the company has never beaten analysts’ bottom line estimates but has always missed them by a wide margin. In theory, this fact should have reduced the degree of uncertainty surrounding the current consensus,” Seeking Alpha analyst Danil Sereda said following the company’s earnings report.

For the current quarter, NIO (NIO) expects to deliver 72K to 75K units, an increase of 43.9% to 49.9% from last year. Total revenue is forecasted to be between $2.804B and $2.904B, up 15%-19.2% year-over-year, but less than the consensus estimates of $3.18B.

“This guidance ruined the day for NIO,” Sereda added, with the stock likely to remain under pressure for some time “unless management sheds some light on why they cut during the earnings call.”