The world's largest EV battery maker warned that it expects to report lower revenue in 2024 than last year, sending shares down on Wednesday. CATL (SHE: 300750) stock sank after its 2024 earnings forecast was released. Here's a preview of CATL's earnings for the past year.
CATL stock falls short of 2024 earnings expectations
CATL released the forecast in a filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange late Tuesday, previewing its full-year 2024 earnings.
The battery giant expects annual revenue between RMB 356 billion ($48.9 billion) and RMB 366 billion ($50.3 billion), suggesting a decline of 11.20% to 8.71% from 2023. This will mark the first time for CATL to report lower annual revenue than the previous year.
CATL said that although sales volume increased, lower expectations were due to lower commodity prices, including lithium carbonate. Despite this, the company still expects to post annual revenue of RMB 49 billion ($6.7 billion) to RMB 53 billion ($7.3 billion), which would be 11.06% to 20.12% from 2023.
Excluding non-recurring gains and losses, CATL expects net return to shareholders between RMB 44 billion ($6 billion) and RMB 47 billion ($6.5 billion), up 9.75% to 17.23% from 2023.
CATL said the higher profit is “primarily due to the company's research and development capabilities.” It also said that competition for its products continues to grow.
After introducing a series of new products and technologies while expanding its partnerships last year, CATL expects “continued growth” in operations.
Just yesterday, a local report appeared Jeman said CATL is expected to announce plans for another EV battery plant in Europe as it expands its global reach. This new facility will add to the one unveiled last month by Stellantis and CATL's fourth in Europe.
In accordance with SNE researchCATL remained the world's largest EV battery maker, controlling 36.8% of the global market during the first 11 months of 2024.
CATL unveiled its new Bedrock Chassis last month, calling it “the world's first ultra-safe EV skateboard chassis”. It has also aggressively expanded its EV battery replacement programs with a new line of Choco-SEB batteries, which make swapping much faster than filling a tank of gas (within 100 seconds).
Despite confidence and higher profits, CATL stock fell nearly 2% on Wednesday following lower revenue expectations.
CATL shares are up nearly 70% over the past 12 months, as the EV battery leader launches new products and expands its global market lead.
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