Jason Lin
Chinese electric-vehicle maker NIO Inc. (NYSE: NIO) reported a wider-than-expected loss in Q4 and said the chip shortage impacting the global automotive industry would force limits to production.
The company reported a 133% jump in Q4 revenue and a loss of $212.8 million. Excluding one-time items, NIO lost $203.6 million, or 14 cents a share. The stocks traded as low as $43.88 on Tuesday morning and were recently off more than 30% from their Feb. 9 record closing high of $62.84, putting them well into bear-market territory.
NIO said it expects to deliver between 20,000 and 25,000 cars over the current quarter, down from the 42% growth rate it recorded over the final half of last year. It is a signal that electric car sales in China would slow over the first three months of the year. After the earnings report, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI), and Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) shares also edged lower today.
However, there is a piece of promising news: CEO William Li said NIO was planning to start exporting to Europe in the second half of 2021. As William mentioned, the proportion of electric vehicle sales has risen very quickly in Europe in 2020, for example in Norway, EVs accounted for about 50% of total vehicle sales. It is foreseeable that Europe, after China, would be another battleground for EV makers soon.
