New York, March 11, 2026, 09:15 (EDT)
NIO shares last traded at $5.70 in U.S. markets Wednesday, marking a 15% gain after the Chinese EV company reported its first quarterly net profit and projected break-even results for this year. Earlier, the stock surged 14% in Hong Kong trading.
This is notable for NIO, a perennial focus among China’s unprofitable EV startups, as it unexpectedly posted a profit while the sector hit turbulence. Wholesale auto sales across China dropped 15% in February. Just weeks before, NIO had flagged that it was on track for its first adjusted operating profit, citing better deliveries and tighter cost controls.
NIO’s fourth-quarter revenue surged 75.9% to 34.65 billion yuan ($4.95 billion), with net profit coming in at 282.7 million yuan. Vehicle margin climbed to 18.1%. On an adjusted basis—removing items like share-based compensation—profit from operations reached 1.25 billion yuan. The company still logged a net loss of 14.94 billion yuan for the year, but that’s an improvement from the 22.40 billion yuan reported in 2024.
NIO founder and CEO William Li reported that deliveries for 2025 climbed to 326,028 vehicles across all three of the company’s brands, calling it an “accelerating growth trajectory.” Looking ahead, Li projected first-quarter deliveries between 80,000 and 83,000 vehicles, with revenue expected in the range of 24.48 billion yuan to 25.18 billion yuan. CFO Stanley Qu described Q4 as a “major milestone in our operating performance.” GlobeNewswire
Analysts took note as volumes climbed, prices held up, and costs came down. According to Barron’s, Citi’s Jeff Chung points to additional savings ahead, predicting battery and chip costs will fall further. He also highlights upcoming new model launches in the second quarter as a boost for margins.
Management is pitching investors on a new wave of growth outside China. President Qin Lihong said NIO is targeting “a good reputation among overseas users” as it pushes to sell thousands of vehicles abroad this year. Li flagged an issue with memory chips, noting it “is indeed a problem” and warning costs could rise by 6,000 to 10,000 yuan per car. The company, however, says it isn’t planning to hike prices. Reuters
It’s a tough stretch. China’s domestic auto sales dropped 34% in February. Tesla picked up speed, with China-made EV sales jumping 91% off a soft base a year ago, but BYD stumbled—its home sales tumbled 65% as price wars swept the market. Against this backdrop, investors have been quick to back any whiff of margin improvement or steadier operations from NIO.
NIO handed over 20,797 vehicles in February, bringing its total for the first two months of 2026 to 47,979. The company’s first-quarter goal now hinges on pulling off an ambitious 32,000 to 35,000 deliveries in March—a hefty jump. But with slimmer subsidies in China, bloated inventories across the sector, a cloudier export picture, and a new chip shortage in the mix, pressure on demand and margins isn’t going away. NIO still needs to prove that a single profitable quarter can stand up against a softer market backdrop.
