Shares of XPeng Inc. XPEV rose 1.1% in premarket trading Friday, even after the China-based electric vehicle maker reported fourth-quarter losses that were wider than expected, revenue that fell short of forecasts and provided a downbeat outlook, but assured sales and market share will resume growth as the company improves efficiencies and continues to cut costs. Net losses widened to RMB2.68 billion ($388.5 million), or RMB2.74 a share, from RMB1.86 billion, or RMB1.51 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, the adjusted loss per American depositary share (ADS) of RMB2.57 was wider than the FactSet loss consensus of RMB2.15. Revenue dropped 39.9% to RMB5.14 billion ($745.3 million), below the FactSet consensus of RMB5.61 billion. Deliveries fell 46.8% to 22,204 EVs, above the FactSet consensus of 21,400, while gross margin contracted to 8.7% from 12.0%. For the first quarter, the company expects revenue of between RMB4.0 billion and RMB4.2 billion, below the FactSet consensus of RMB5.79 billion, and deliveries of between 18,000 and 19,000 EVs. XPeng’s stock has tumbled 19.1% over the past three months through Thursday, while the iShares MSCI China exchange-traded fund MCHI has slipped 0.3% and the S&P 500 SPX has gained 2.8%.
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