NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO), the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker, is seeing its shares trade lower in premarket trading on Thursday.
Macquarie analyst Eugene Hsiao downgraded the company’s rating from Outperform to Neutral and slashed the price target from $6.60 to $4.80.
The downgrade follows a mixed fiscal third-quarter earnings report, which revealed a slight decline in year-over-year revenue and continued losses.
NIO posted a revenue of 18.67 billion yuan ($2.66 billion) for the quarter, marking a 2.1% decrease from the same period in the previous year but an increase of 7.0% from the prior quarter. However, analysts had expected slightly higher revenue of $2.70 billion for the period.
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Excluding share-based compensation expenses, NIO reported an adjusted loss per share of 2.14 yuan, or a 31-cent loss, which was an improvement compared to the 2.28 yuan loss in the same quarter last year. Nonetheless, the company continues to struggle with narrowing its losses, though this quarter’s loss was slightly better than the 2.21 yuan loss seen in the second quarter of 2024.
Despite the disappointing financials, NIO executives have been actively unveiling new strategic developments.
The company shared details about its third EV brand, Firefly, which will officially launch on December 21, ahead of its parent company’s annual NIO Day event, reported CnEV Post. Firefly’s first model is expected to enter deliveries in the first half of 2025, a move seen as an effort to expand NIO’s presence in the competitive EV market.
Looking ahead, NIO has set a guidance of 72,000 to 75,000 vehicle deliveries for the fourth quarter, which represents a year-over-year increase of 43.9% to 49.9%. The company also projects revenue for the fourth quarter in the range of $2.804 billion to $2.904 billion, a growth of 15.0% to 19.2% compared to the same period last year.
Despite these optimistic projections, NIO’s stock has been under significant pressure in 2024, having plunged more than 45% year-to-date.
Price Action: NIO shares are trading lower by 1.29% to $4.60 at last check Thursday.
Photo via Shutterstock
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