Li Auto guides deliveries to be between 100,000 and 103,000 units in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 90.2 percent to 95.9 percent from the first quarter of 2023.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) reported strong fourth quarter 2023 performance, doubling net income from the previous quarter and further improving gross margin.
The company posted record revenue of RMB 41.73 billion yuan ($5.88 billion) in the fourth quarter, ahead of market expectations of RMB 39.8 billion yuan, according to its unaudited earnings report released today.
That's up 136.4 percent year-on-year and up 20.3 percent from the third quarter, exceeding the upper end of its previous guidance range of RMB 38.46 billion to RMB 39.38 billion.
Li Auto delivered a record 131,805 vehicles in the fourth quarter, above the upper end of its guidance range of 125,000 to 128,000 vehicles.
Its revenue from vehicle sales in the fourth quarter was RMB 40.38 billion, up 133.8 percent year-on-year and up 20.1 percent from the third quarter.
Li Auto's net income for the fourth quarter was RMB 5.75 billion, an increase of 2,068.2 percent from RMB 265.3 million in the same period last year and an increase of 104.5 percent from RMB 2.81 billion in the third quarter.
Its non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter was RMB 4.59 billion, an increase of 374.2 percent year-on-year and 32.3 percent from the third quarter.
Diluted net earnings per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 5.32 in the fourth quarter, compared to RMB 0.25 in the fourth quarter of 2022 and RMB 2.67 in the third quarter.
Non-GAAP diluted net earnings per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 4.23 in the fourth quarter, compared to RMB 0.93 in the same period last year and RMB 3.29 in the third quarter.
Li Auto's gross margin for the fourth quarter was 23.5 percent, up from 20.2 percent in the same period last year and a further improvement from 22.0 percent in the third quarter.
Li Auto's vehicle margin was 22.7 percent in the fourth quarter, compared to 20.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 21.2 percent in the third quarter of 2023.
The company reported a free cash flow of RMB 14.64 billion in the fourth quarter, up 349.4 percent year-on-year and up 10.7 percent from the third quarter.
Li Auto expects its deliveries in the first quarter of 2024 to be between 100,000 and 103,000 units, an increase of 90.2 percent to 95.9 percent from the first quarter of 2023.
The guidance implies that Li Auto expects its combined deliveries in February and March to be in the range of 68,835 to 71,835 units, considering that it delivered 31,165 vehicles in January.
The company expects its total revenue for the first quarter to be in the range of RMB 31.25 billion to RMB 32.19 billion, representing an increase of 66.3 percent to 71.3 percent from the first quarter of 2023.
For the full year 2023, Li Auto reported revenue of RMB 123.85 billion, up 173.5 percent from RMB 45.29 billion in 2022.
It reported a net income of RMB 11.81 billion in 2023, compared to a net loss of RMB 2.03 billion in 2022.
Non-GAAP net income in 2023 was RMB12.2 billion, up 58,494.3 percent from RMB 20.8 million in 2022.
Li Auto's free cash flow was RMB 44.19 billion in 2023, an increase of 1,861.8 percent from RMB 2.25 billion in 2022.
As of December 31, 2023, Li Auto had 31,591 employees.
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