NIO Inc. (NIO) Stock: Why Shares Rose After Posting Another Quarterly Loss

TLDR

Table of Contents

NIO posted Q2 2025 revenue of $2.65 billion, up 9% year-over-year but below Wall Street expectations
Operating loss narrowed to $567 million from $673 million a year ago, beating analyst estimates of $620 million
Vehicle deliveries jumped 25.6% to 72,056 units in Q2, with August sales up 55% year-over-year at 31,305 cars
Average selling price dropped to $31,000 from $38,000 due to ongoing EV price war in China
Company expects Q3 deliveries of 87,000-91,000 vehicles but revenue guidance below analyst projections

NIO Inc. (NIO) shares climbed 2% in premarket trading Tuesday after the Chinese electric vehicle maker reported better-than-expected operating results. The Tesla rival posted an adjusted operating loss of $567 million on revenue of $2.65 billion for the second quarter.

Wall Street analysts had projected a larger loss of around $620 million on similar revenue figures. The company’s performance represents improvement from the prior year period when NIO recorded a $673 million operating loss on $2.4 billion in sales.

NIO Inc., $NIO, Q2-25. Results:
📊 Adj. EPS: -$0.25 🟢
💰 Revenue: $2.65B 🔴
📈 Net Loss: $697M
🔎 Deliveries surged to 72,056 units in Q2, driven by strong demand for ONVO L90 and NIO All-New ES8. pic.twitter.com/agcTqdoVqL
— EarningsTime (@Earnings_Time) September 2, 2025

Revenue growth came in at 9% year-over-year, reaching 19 billion yuan or approximately $2.65 billion. Net loss narrowed slightly to 4.9 billion yuan from 5 billion yuan in the same quarter last year. Net loss per diluted share improved to 2.31 yuan from 2.50 yuan previously.

Gross profit margins ticked up to 10% from 9.7% in the second quarter of 2024. The margin improvement came despite intense pricing pressure across China’s electric vehicle market.

Vehicle Deliveries Show Strong Growth

NIO delivered 72,056 electric vehicles in the second quarter, marking a 25.6% increase from the same period last year. The delivery growth outpaced the company’s revenue increase, reflecting the impact of lower average selling prices.

August vehicle sales reached 31,305 units, representing a 55% jump compared to August 2024. The strong monthly performance helped drive NIO shares up 4.6% in Hong Kong on Monday before the earnings release.

For July and August combined, NIO delivered 52,322 vehicles. This leaves approximately 37,000 deliveries needed in September to meet the company’s third-quarter guidance range.

Pricing Pressure Takes Toll on Revenue Per Vehicle

The gap between delivery growth and revenue growth highlights the challenging pricing environment facing Chinese EV manufacturers. NIO’s average selling price dropped to roughly $31,000 per vehicle from $38,000 in the prior year quarter.

The price decline reflects both a different vehicle mix and the broader price war affecting the Chinese electric vehicle sector. Competition has intensified as multiple manufacturers fight for market share in the world’s largest EV market.

NIO expects third-quarter vehicle deliveries between 87,000 and 91,000 units. This would represent growth of 40.7% to 47.1% compared to the third quarter of 2024, when the company delivered approximately 62,000 vehicles.

The projected delivery range would set a new quarterly record for NIO if achieved. The company’s previous highest quarterly deliveries totaled around 62,000 units.

Third-quarter revenue guidance came in at 21.8 billion to 22.9 billion yuan, equivalent to $3.045 billion to $3.193 billion. However, this falls short of Wall Street’s current projection of $3.4 billion for the period.

NIO stock traded down 3.6% in Hong Kong following the earnings release but remained up 0.9% for the week after Monday’s gains.

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