Nio falls short of revenue estimates in its fiscal Q1

Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) is trading down in premarket on Thursday after coming in shy of revenue estimates for its fiscal first quarter. 

Nio beats estimates for the bottom line in Q1

The electric vehicles company said its revenue printed at $1.37 billion that fell short of consensus by some $70 million. 

Still, $NIO lost 33 cents on a per-share basis in its Q1 versus analysts at a wider 39 cents per share. William Li - the chief executive of Nio Inc said in a press release today:

The Shanghai-headquartered firm launched Onvo - a new brand of lower cost smart electric vehicles in May. Nio stock is currently down more than 40% versus the start of 2024. 

$NIO first-quarter deliveries

Nio Inc delivered a total of 30,053 vehicles in the first quarter - down 3.2% versus a year ago but a whopping 40% sequentially. 

But the momentum is rebuilding with April and May deliveries coming in at 15,620 and 20,544 which translates to about a 135% and 234% increase on a year-over-year basis. According to CFO Steven Wei Feng:

$NIO has partnered with seven automakers in China over battery swapping technologies - the latest one being with SAIC Motors as Invezz reported here. Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on Nio stock. 

Nio’s guidance for the current quarter

Nio now expects to deliver 54,000 to 56,000 electric vehicles in its current financial quarter. That would mean an increase of 129.6% to 138.1% versus the same quarter of 2023. 

Total revenue, it added, will fall between $2.29 billion and $2.37 billion - well above the consensus at $1.99 billion. The guided range suggests an over 90% growth on a year-over-year basis. CEO Li also said on Thursday:

Last month, JPMorgan analyst Nick Lai raised his rating on Nio stock to "neutral". His $5.40 price target suggests about a 10% upside from the price in premarket on Thursday. Note that $NIO traded at a higher of over $15 in August of 2023.