's fourth-quarter delivery guidance of 43,000 to 48,000 units means it expects cumulative deliveries in November and December to reach 32,941 to 37,941 units.

Nio today reported third-quarter revenue that beat expectations, although guidance for the fourth quarter was more conservative than the market had expected.

The company reported third-quarter revenue of RMB 13 billion ($1.8 billion), a single-quarter high, up 32.6 percent year-on-year and the tenth consecutive quarter of growth.

That was up 26.3 percent from the second quarter and within its previous guidance of RMB 12.9 billion to RMB 13.6 billion.

The company reported revenue from auto sales of RMB 11.9 billion in the third quarter, up 38.2 percent year-on-year and 24.7 percent from the second quarter.

Previously released data showed that Nio delivered 31,607 vehicles in the third quarter, a record high.

Nio's gross profit for the quarter was RMB 1.74 billion, down 12.9 percent year-on-year and up 29.5 percent from the second quarter.

The company's gross margin was 13.3 percent in the third quarter, an improvement from 13.0 percent in the second quarter, although lower than the 20.3 percent reported in the same quarter last year.

Nio reported a net loss of RMB 4.11 billion in the third quarter, up 392.1 percent from the same quarter last year and up 49.1 percent from the second quarter.

On a non-GAAP basis, excluding stock-based compensation expense, it reported an adjusted net loss of RMB 3.5 billion in the third quarter, up 514.2 percent year-on-year and up 54.3 percent from the second quarter.

Nio reported a net loss attributable to common shareholders of RMB 4.14 billion in the third quarter, compared to market expectations of a loss of RMB 3 billion and a loss of RMB 2.86 billion in the same quarter last year.

It reported a basic and diluted net loss of RMB 2.53 per ordinary/ADS share in the third quarter, compared with RMB 1.82 in the same quarter last year and RMB 1.68 in the second quarter.

The company's R&D expenses in the third quarter were RMB 2.94 billion, an increase of 146.8 percent year-on-year and 37.0 percent from the second quarter.

The increase was primarily due to higher personnel costs in the R&D function and higher design and development costs for new products and technologies.

Under non-GAAP, excluding stock-based compensation expenses, R&D expenses were RMB2.57 billion, an increase of 134.8 percent year-on-year, or 37.2 percent from the second quarter.

This was primarily due to increased personnel costs in the R&D function and higher design and development costs for new products and technologies, Nio said.

As of September 30, Nio had cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, short-term investments and long-term time deposits of RMB 51.4 billion.

"Following the delivery of our new product lineup based on Nio Technology 2.0 catering to different market segments, we have witnessed strong growth momentum in user demand and robust foot traffic, especially after the debut of ET5s in stores from September," Nio's founder, Chairman and William Li, CEO and founder of Nio, said.

Nio expects ET5 deliveries to support a significant acceleration in its overall revenue growth in the fourth quarter, Li said, adding that the company has been working closely with supply chain partners to accelerate production and delivery in order to meet growing user demand and reduce wait times.

Nio's guidance for fourth-quarter deliveries is 43,000 to 48,000 units, below market expectations of 55,605 units and representing year-on-year growth of 71.8 percent to 91.7 percent.

Considering that the company delivered 10,059 vehicles in October, the guidance implies that Nio expects cumulative deliveries in November and December to reach 32,941 to 37,941 units.

The company's revenue guidance for the fourth quarter is RMB17.37 billion to RMB19.23 billion, below market expectations of RMB 21.19 billion and representing year-on-year growth of about 75.4 percent to 94.2 percent.

In a research note sent to investors on Tuesday, Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu's team said expectations for Nio in the fourth quarter have naturally fallen as the Covid lock-up severely disrupted production in October and is likely to remain a headwind in the first half of November.

Yu's team expects Nio deliveries to be 14,00 units in November and 21,000 units in December, bringing the fourth quarter to about 45,000 units, including sales of NT 1.0 platform-based models below 10,000 units.

It is not clear how fast production can be in November, but consumer sentiment for older models is low, so the team is taking a more conservative stance, according to the study.