Nio share price: what to expect from its Q1 results

When is Nio’s results date?

Nio, a pioneer in China’s premium electric vehicle market, is expected to announce its first quarter 2019 financial results on Tuesday, May 28, 2019 before the markets in the United States (US) open. The US-listed company will conduct an earnings conference call at 8.00am Eastern Time.

Nio earnings results preview: what to expect?

Founded in November 2014, Nio is often viewed as a rival to US’ electric carmaker Tesla. Coined often by observers as China’s answer to Tesla, the firm which is headquartered in China, designs and sells its electric vehicles.

Street estimates expect the group to report an adjusted net earnings per share (EPS) losses of 3.23 Chinese yuan for the quarter ended March. The amount will be lower than the net loss of 3.20 Chinese yuan per share in the preceding quarter.

In its fourth quarter earnings announcement in March, Nio announced its plans to cancel its Shanghai-based car manufacturing plant and to continue to outsource its car manufacturing to JAC Motors. The announcement triggered a massive sell-off, which led the group’s shares to fall by 20%.

Analysts are expecting for Nio’s car deliveries to slow which would likely hurt its results for the first quarter.

The group reported a net revenue of 3.44 billion yuan for the fourth quarter, and experts are predicting for a revenue of 1.5 billion yuan for the first quarter, which would be a 55.6% decline in sales on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

The firm delivered 1,805 and 811 units of its ES8 car model in January and February this year, much lower than its 1,573 units and 3,089 units delivered in October and November 2018, respectively, due to the Chinese New Year festive celebrations earlier this year where operations were affected by the holiday period.

In a press release last month, the firm said it delivered 1,373 ES8 units in March, which brings total deliveries to 3,989 units in the first quarter. As of March 31, 2019, the deliveries of ES8 reached 15,337 units, Nio said.

Nio officially launched the ES6, a 5-seater high-performance premium electric sport utility vehicle (SUV), in December 2018 and said it plans to make the first batch of deliveries of ES6 in June 2019.

Nio share price suffers amid weak quarterly results forecast, US-China trade tensions

The dismal expectations for the firm’s earnings and the recent broad market sell-off on Chinese firms listed on the US also led to the firm’s stock plunging in recent days.

Nio’s share price slumped 1.78% or US$0.07, to close at US$3.86 on Friday. US markets were closed on Monday for a Federal Holiday. Pre-market trading for the stock on Tuesday morning was higher by 1.04% or US$0.04, at US$3.90, at around 4.00am Eastern Time.

Year-to-date, the group’s shares have been diced almost half, from US$6.20 on January 2, 2019.

On May 23, 2019, the firm’s shares slipped and fell below the psychological level of US$4.00 on the New York Stock Exchange, posting an all-time-low of US$3.83.