• Deutsche Bank expects the third-quarter net loss to narrow to 300 million yuan and gross margin to recover to 16.7%.
  • Third-quarter deliveries totaled 99,964 vehicles, up 7.24% year-on-year and near the upper end of guidance.

Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) will report its unaudited financial results for the third quarter of 2026 before US markets open on Wednesday, November 25, after quarterly deliveries came in near the upper end of its guidance.

The Chinese electric vehicle maker said in an announcement on Tuesday that management will hold an earnings call on the day of the release.

The call is scheduled for 8:00 pm Beijing Time, or 7:00 am US Eastern Time. A live webcast and replay will be available on the company's investor relations website.

Li Auto delivered 99,964 vehicles in the third quarter, up 7.24% year-on-year and 1.66% from the second quarter, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.

That result was near the upper end of the company's guidance of 95,000 to 100,000 deliveries. Li Auto had forecast third-quarter revenue of 26.6 billion yuan ($3.96 billion) to 28.0 billion yuan.

Whether profitability can improve further will be a focus of the earnings release. Li Auto posted a second-quarter net loss of 1.7 billion yuan, narrowing from 2.3 billion yuan in the first quarter.

Second-quarter revenue fell 15.1% year-on-year to 25.7 billion yuan. Overall gross margin stood at 11.0% and vehicle margin at 9.4%, both improving from the first quarter.

Deutsche Bank analyst Wang Bin's team forecast in a research note earlier today that Li Auto's third-quarter revenue would reach 27.0 billion yuan, up about 5% from the previous quarter.

The bank expects overall gross margin to rise to 16.7% in the third quarter and the net loss to narrow to 300 million yuan, better than the consensus estimate of a 942 million yuan net loss cited in its report.

Deutsche Bank said an improved product mix and the removal of cash subsidies on the previous-generation Li L6 would support the margin recovery and offset cost pressures from rising battery, memory chip and raw material prices.

Li Auto's deliveries remained under pressure heading into the fourth quarter. The company delivered 29,025 vehicles in October, down 8.63% year-on-year and the lowest since February.

In the first 10 months of the year, Li Auto delivered 322,461 vehicles, down 1.96% year-on-year. The production ramp-up of the refreshed Li i6 will be a key factor in its delivery performance toward year-end.

Li Auto launched the 2026 Li i6 electric SUV on October 28 and began deliveries the following day. The company previously said it planned to raise the model's monthly production capacity to 20,000 vehicles in November.

Deutsche Bank estimates that cumulative orders for the refreshed Li i6 have exceeded 50,000 vehicles. It expects Li Auto's November deliveries to rebound to more than 40,000 vehicles, including 16,000 to 20,000 Li i6 SUVs.

($1 = 6.7167 yuan)