As Nio's second-quarter earnings are about to be announced, Edison Yu's team from Deutsche Bank reminded investors of what to look out for in a research note sent to investors on Monday.
Nio will report its second-quarter results after the bell on Aug. 11 US time (early Aug. 12 Beijing Time), and Yu's team notes that the company previously reported data showing it delivered 21,896 new vehicles in the second quarter, in line with the team's forecast.
The team maintained its estimate for Nio sales at RMB 8.57 billion, slightly above the analyst consensus of RMB 8.3 billion in a Bloomberg survey.
Yu's team maintained its forecast for Nio gross margin of 19.1 percent, in line with the consensus, and vehicle margin of 21 percent, unchanged from the previous quarter.
Based on these, the team's EPS estimate for Nio for the second quarter is RMB -0.44, compared to the analyst consensus of RMB -0.50 in the Bloomberg survey.
Nio delivered 21,896 vehicles in the second quarter, up 111.9 percent year-over-year, for five consecutive quarters of positive growth, according to previously released data. The company delivered 41,956 vehicles in the first half of the year, reaching 95.9% of last year's full-year deliveries.
(Graphic by CnEVPost)
Yu's team expects that Nio management's guidance for third-quarter deliveries will likely be around 25,000 units and revenue guidance will likely be RMB 9 billion to RMB 9.5 billion.
The team's expectations for Nio's full-year deliveries this year remain at 95,000 units and revenues of more than RMB 37 billion.
Yu's team also reminded investors to media reports about Nio's plans to enter the mass market.
36kr reported on July 30 that Ai Tiecheng, former general manager of WeWork Greater China, has joined Nio to take charge of the company's mass-market-oriented sub-brand and that the new model could be released as early as the first half of next year.
Ai takes on the role of vice president of strategic new business, reporting directly to Nio CEO William Li, the report said, citing sources familiar with the matter, adding that "the new business Ai is in charge of is Nio's sub-brand.
The so-called sub-brand is a mid-to low-end brand launched by Nio independent of it and is expected to be priced in the RMB 150,000 ($23,200) - RMB 250,000 market, the report said.
In addition, Nio's LinkedIn job ad reveals its European headquarters in Amsterdam, Yu's team notes, adding that this means Nio will launch a BaaS solution in Europe to significantly reduce the upfront price of the vehicle.
Yu's team continues to expect the first batch of deliveries to begin in September, roughly a few hundred vehicles in Norway.
The team maintained a Buy rating on Nio and a $60 price target.
Nio closed down 3.86 percent to $43.84 on Friday.
