Ideal Automobile (Nasdaq: LI; 02015. HK) once again exceeded market expectations in the third quarter, with its quarterly delivery volume and financial data reaching historic highs. Ideal Automobile's US stock market rose nearly 7% before the market closed.
On November 9th, Ideal Automobile released its financial report for the third quarter of 2023, which showed that Ideal Automobile achieved a revenue of 34.68 billion yuan in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 271.2%, exceeding market expectations of 33.6 billion yuan; The net profit was 2.81 billion yuan, compared to a net loss of 1.65 billion yuan in the same period last year. This is the fourth consecutive quarter that Ideal Automobile has achieved profits.
The significant growth in revenue was driven by strong market demand. In terms of delivery volume, Ideal Automobile delivered 105100 new cars in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 296.3%. It is worth noting that Ideal Automobile still maintains a leading gross profit margin level in the industry, with a gross profit margin of 22%, compared to 12.7% in the same period last year and 21.8% in the previous quarter.
In terms of cash reserves, in the third quarter of 2023, the free cash flow of Ideal Automobile was 13.22 billion yuan, an increase of 37.5% month on month. As of the end of the third quarter, the cash reserve reached 88.52 billion yuan.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Ideal Automobile stated that its quarterly delivery volume is expected to reach 125000 to 128000 units, a year-on-year increase of 169.9% to 176.3%; The quarterly revenue is expected to reach 38.46 billion yuan to 39.38 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 117.9% to 123.1%.
Based on the guidance of the fourth quarter, Ideal can easily achieve the goal of revenue exceeding 100 billion yuan this year. As of September 30th, the cumulative revenue of Ideal Automobile in 2023 was 82.12 billion yuan.
MEGA will be delivered in February next year, with production capacity that can support sales targets for the next two years
This performance not only exceeded the expectations of the supermarket market, but also exceeded the expectations of Ideal Automobile itself. The third quarter guidance provided in the second quarter financial report mentions that the expected vehicle delivery volume for the third quarter is 100000 to 103000 vehicles, and the expected revenue for the third quarter is 32.33 billion to 33.3 billion yuan.
At the financial report conference call, Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Automobile, stated that "Ideal Automobile's sales in the new energy vehicle market above 200000 yuan remain in the top three, and its market share continues to increase, from 10.9% in the first quarter of this year and 13.7% in the second quarter to 15.4% in the third quarter. We believe that the sustained strong sales performance of the Ideal L-series and the delivery of new pure electric models next year will support Ideal Automobile's further large-scale replacement of traditional fuel vehicles in 2024
Regarding the new model, Li Xiang introduced that the flagship model Ideal MEGA will be officially released in December, showcased in stores in January 2024, and user delivery will begin in February.
2024 will be the most intensive year for new car launches in Ideal history.
Li Xiang introduced, "In 2024, we will release and deliver a total of four products, which is also the most abundant year since the company was founded. In the first half of 2024, we will release a medium to large SUV for younger families, the Ideal L6, and in the second half of 2024, we will also deliver three pure electric products. The development and delivery rhythm of the model will continue our past excellent tradition
Entering the pure electric market has become the focus of investment for ideal cars. Ma Donghui, President and Chief Engineer of Ideal Automobile, stated that MEGA, as the first pure electric model and a brand new electric platform, will be produced in a new factory and production line in Beijing. "It is true that the entire production process will be full of challenges, but we also have great opportunities
He stated that in order to ensure MEGA production, firstly, it is necessary to review the experience accumulated in past car models; Secondly, together with supplier partners, we have sorted out the NUDD components on MEGA (NUDD is a methodology for early quality risk identification and management of new products, which includes new features, uniqueness, difficulties, and differences), and also developed a special project for quality control and capacity upgrading; In terms of personnel, the recruitment and training of factory personnel were conducted in advance.
Ma Donghui emphasized that the supply bottleneck issues previously encountered have been successfully resolved. Currently, Ideal Automobile has two production and manufacturing bases in Beijing and Changzhou, which can effectively support its sales targets for the next two years.
In terms of supporting facilities, currently, 130 ideal overcharging stations have been built and operated along national highways. Ideal ONE and Ideal L series models support convenient charging functions such as plug and play charging and password free payment. By the end of this year, 300 ideal overcharging stations will be built.
Li Xiang: Competing with Huawei, but 80% of Huawei's learning and 20% of Huawei's respect
Of course, in the field of "old territory" value-added cars, Ideal also has to face challenges from more competitors, including Huawei. Interestingly, while Ideal Automobile held its financial report conference call, Huawei is releasing a Huawei Smart Select model, the Smart S7, which has made the automotive industry boil.
At the financial report conference call, analysts seemed accustomed to the impressive performance of Ideal Automobile and turned their focus to Huawei and the industry.
Regarding competitors, Zou Liangjun, Vice President of Sales and Service at Ideal Automobile, responded that, At present, the penetration rate of the new energy vehicle market has exceeded 35%, crossing the innovation diffusion gap and entering the early Volkswagen era. The concentration effect of top car companies will become increasingly apparent, and it is believed that the accumulated user base and market share will continue to increase in support of the delivery volume and market share of ideal cars in the increasingly fierce market share competition in the future
Li Xiang bluntly stated that currently Huawei is competing with Ideal products, and Ideal's internal attitude towards Huawei is unified: 80% is learning, 20% is respect, and there are no complaints.
He said, "As a startup, as we enter a revenue scale of 100 billion yuan, we feel very lucky and excited to encounter a technology model that has achieved nearly a trillion yuan in revenue. This is our true mindset