Chinese electric vehicle maker reported revenue of RMB 6.64 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, in line with analysts' expectations of RMB 6.64 billion, and up 46.7 percent from the third quarter of 2020.

According to unaudited financial results announced after the bell on Monday, the company reported an adjusted loss of RMB 0.93 per ADS for the fourth quarter, higher than analysts' expectations of a loss of RMB 0.45.

Commenting on Nio's EPS miss, Deutsche Bank analysts led by Edison Yu said it was mainly due to a large foreign exchange loss derived from depreciation of USD cash balance held by domestic entities with functional currency in RMB (up to ~400 million hit below the operating line).

Nio delivered 17,353 electric vehicles in the fourth quarter, including 4,873 ES8s, 7,574 ES6s and 4,906 EC6s, compared with 8,224 in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 12,206 vehicles delivered in the third quarter of 2020.

Deliveries of vehicles were 43,728 in 2020, compared with 20,565 vehicles delivered in 2019.

Yu's team said Nio's deliveries in March would be implied to come in around ~7,500 (record high selling month), suggesting little to no impact on demand from the China-made Model Y introduction thus far.

Nio's gross margin for the fourth quarter was 17.2%, compared with negative 6.0% in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 14.5% in the third quarter of 2020.

"Nio concluded a transformational 2020 with a new quarterly delivery record of 17,353 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2020," William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio, said in a statement. "The strong momentum has continued in 2021 as we achieved a historic monthly delivery of 7,225 vehicles in January."

Loss from operations was RMB 931.4 million in the fourth quarter, representing a decrease of 67.0% from the fourth quarter of 2019 and a decrease of 1.5% from the third quarter of 2020.

Excluding share-based compensation expenses, adjusted loss from operations (non-GAAP) was RMB 871.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing a decrease of 68.6% from the fourth quarter of 2019 and a decrease of 2.9% from the third quarter of 2020.

Net loss was RMB 1.39 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing a decrease of 51.5% from the fourth quarter of 2019 and an increase of 32.6% from the third quarter of 2020.

Excluding share-based compensation expenses, adjusted net loss (non-GAAP) was RMB 1.33 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing a decrease of 52.8% from the fourth quarter of 2019 and an increase of 33.1% from the third quarter of 2020.

Net loss attributable to Nio's ordinary shareholders was RMB 1.49 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing a decrease of 48.4% from the fourth quarter of 2019 and an increase of 25.6% from the third quarter of 2020.

Excluding share-based compensation expenses and accretion on redeemable non-controlling interests to redemption value, adjusted net loss attributable to Nio's ordinary shareholders (non-GAAP) was RMB 1.33 billion.

Basic and diluted net loss per American Depositary Share (ADS) were both RMB 1.05 in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Excluding share-based compensation expenses and accretion on redeemable non-controlling interests to redemption value, adjusted basic and diluted net loss per ADS (non-GAAP) were both RMB 0.93.

Cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investment were RMB 42.5 billion as of December 31, 2020.

Nio expects first-quarter revenue of RMB 7.38-7.56 billion and vehicle deliveries of 20,000-20,500 units.

Nio stock fell more than 4% after hours.