Nio's vehicle margin was negatively impacted by 6.7 percentage points in the fourth quarter due to accelerated depreciation of production facilities and the loss of purchase commitments for older models.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) saw record revenue in the fourth quarter, but fell short of Wall Street expectations and its gross margin plummeted to single digits.
The company reported revenue of RMB 16.06 billion ($2.33 billion) in the fourth quarter, up 23.55 percent from the third quarter and up 62.26 percent year-on-year.
This was the 11th consecutive increase in Nio's quarterly revenue, but fell short of analysts' expectations of RMB 17.265 billion.
Previously released figures have shown that Nio delivered 40,052 vehicles in the fourth quarter, below the initial guidance range of 43,000 to 48,000 vehicles but above the lowered guidance of 38,500 to 39,500 vehicles.
The company's revenue guidance for the fourth quarter was RMB17.37 billion to RMB19.23 billion when it announced its third-quarter earnings on November 10. It gave no new revenue guidance when it lowered its delivery guidance on December 27.
Nio reported vehicle sales of RMB 14.76 billion in the fourth quarter, up 60.2 percent year-on-year and up 23.7 percent from the third quarter.
It reported a vehicle margin of 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 20.9 percent in the year-ago quarter and down from 16.4 percent in the third quarter.
Nio's vehicle margin was negatively impacted by 6.7 percentage points in the fourth quarter due to inventory provisioning, accelerated depreciation of production facilities and loss of purchase commitments for the current generation ES8, ES6 and EC6, the company said.
The company reported gross profit of RMB 622 million in the fourth quarter, down 63.4 percent year-on-year and 64.2 percent from the third quarter.
Its gross margin for the fourth quarter was 3.9 percent, down from 17.2 percent a year ago and down from 13.3 percent in the third quarter.
Nio's net loss for the fourth quarter was RMB 5.79 billion, up 169.9 percent year-on-year and up 40.8 percent from the third quarter.
Excluding stock-based compensation expense, it reported an adjusted net loss (non-GAAP) of RMB 5.07 billion in the fourth quarter, up 190.0 percent year-on-year and up 44.8 percent from the third quarter.
Nio reported an average net loss per ADS of RMB 3.55 in the fourth quarter, compared to RMB 1.36 in the same quarter last year and RMB 2.53 in the third quarter.
Its adjusted net loss per ADS was RMB 3.07, compared to RMB 1.07 in the same period last year and RMB 2.11 in the third quarter.
Research and development expenses in the fourth quarter were RMB 39.8 billion, an increase of 117.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2021 and an increase of 35.2 percent from the third quarter.
As of December 31, 2022, Nio's cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, short-term investments and long-term time deposits were RMB 45.5 billion.
Nio guided for first-quarter deliveries of between 31,000 and 33,000 units, implying year-on-year growth of about 20.3 percent to 28.1 percent.
Considering it delivered a total of 20,663 vehicles in January and February, the guidance implies March deliveries are expected to be between 10,337 and 12,337.
Its revenue guidance for the first quarter is between RMB 10.93 billion and RMB 11.54 billion, implying year-on-year growth of about 10.2 percent to 16.5 percent.
