Key Takeaways
- Li Auto beat fourth-quarter earnings estimates and recorded its first annual profit.
- The Chinese carmaker predicted current-quarter deliveries would be nearly double what they were a year ago.
- Li Auto ADRs are 70% higher in the past year.
American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) of Li Auto (LI) surged Monday after the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer defied intense domestic competition to post better-than-expected results and its first annual profit.
The company reported fourth-quarter revenue of 41.73 billion yuan ($5.80 billion), above the 40.20 billion yuan forecast by analysts, and more than double from the same period the year before.
Li Auto’s 11.8 billion yuan net income for 2023 was well above expectations of 8.91 billion yuan.
CEO Xiang Li said Li Auto was “undeterred by the fiercely competitive NEV market in 2023.”
Li Auto competes in the Chinese market with companies such as Tesla (TSLA), as well as homegrown firms Nio (NIO), BYD, and XPeng (XPEV).
Li said the EV maker’s “significantly increasing scale, continued research and development advancement, and consistently improving operating efficiency” will set a “solid foundation” for the firm’s growth this year.
The company projected current-quarter deliveries ranging between 100,000 and 103,000 vehicles, representing an increase of 90.2% to 95.9% from the first quarter of 2023.
Li Auto ADRs were trading up 17% at 1:31 p.m. ET time and are up more than 70% in the past year.
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