Li Auto Forecasts Softer Sales After Posting Surge in Quarterly Revenue, Profit
The Chinese carmaker also reported its first annual net profit
Chinese electric-vehicle maker Li Auto LI -0.54%decrease; red down pointing triangle expects a sequential drop in deliveries in the first months of 2024, coming after a blockbuster quarter in which sales and profit more than doubled during the tail end of 2023.
The Beijing-based company said Monday that its fourth-quarter revenue more than doubled from a year earlier to 41.73 billion yuan ($5.80 billion), beating consensus estimates for CNY40.20 billion in a poll of analysts by data provider FactSet. Deliveries of Li Auto’s popular SUVs and other cars nearly tripled from a year ago to 131,805 units.
Net profit was CNY5.66 billion, up from CNY256.9 million a year ago and CNY2.82 billion in the third quarter. The improvement came despite an ongoing “price war” in China with competitors such as Tesla, BYD, Nio and XPeng, with the company’s fourth-quarter gross margin rising to 23.5% from 22.0% in the prior quarter.
Li Auto said it expects to deliver between 100,000 and 103,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, which would be its lowest amount since the second quarter of last year. It guided for revenue of CNY31.25 billion-CNY32.19 billion, down from the previous quarter but up from a year earlier.
Monday’s results also showed Li Auto’s first annual net profit, with a bottom line of CNY11.70 billion roundly beating expectations of CNY8.91 billion in a FactSet poll. Total revenue in 2023 more than doubled to CNY123.85 billion.
Li Auto’s 2023 vehicle margin came in at 21.5%, rising from 19.1% a year earlier. Its 2023 capital expenditure clocked in at CNY6.51 billion.