Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.12, FiscalAI reports. Li Auto had a negative net margin of 1.72% and a negative return on equity of 2.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. Li Auto’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Here are the key takeaways from Li Auto’s conference call:

• Li Auto said deliveries returned to a growth trajectory in Q1 and the company regained the top spot among Chinese brands in the RMB 200,000+ NEV market from January to April.
• The newly launched all-new Li L9 got off to a strong start, with the Livis trim securing over 10,000 orders in its first two weeks; management expects it to hold more than 20% share in the RMB 500,000+ NEV SUV segment.
• Management outlined a product refresh pipeline that includes the all-new Li L8 launching in late June, positioned as a flagship five-seater SUV to complement the L9 and strengthen the premium lineup.
• Q1 profitability weakened sharply, with revenue of RMB 23 billion but gross margin falling to 7.9%, operating loss reaching RMB 3.0 billion, and net loss totaling RMB 2.3 billion.
• The company highlighted progress on its in-house Mach M100 chip and MindVLA model, saying the new ADAS platform improves compute efficiency and decision-making, with a goal of matching Tesla FSD v14 performance in the U.S. in the second half of the year.

Li Auto Trading Down 3.4%

NASDAQ LI opened at $15.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $17.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.66. Li Auto has a 12 month low of $14.90 and a 12 month high of $32.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -53.61 and a beta of 0.63.

Institutional Trading of Li Auto

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LI. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Li Auto by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 88,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after buying an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Li Auto by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Li Auto by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 27,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 1,121 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Li Auto by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 176,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,790,000 after buying an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Li Auto by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 1,624 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Li Auto and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Li Auto in a report on Friday, March 27th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Li Auto from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Li Auto from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Li Auto in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $17.55.

Li Auto News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Li Auto this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Macquarie upgraded Li Auto to Neutral from Underperform, saying some of the company’s biggest challenges may be easing. That suggests the worst-case scenario could be improving, which is supportive for sentiment. Macquarie upgrades Li Auto as signs of recovery begin to emerge
• Neutral Sentiment: Li Auto said shareholders adopted all proposed resolutions at its annual general meeting, a routine corporate update that does not materially change the near-term operating outlook. Li Auto Inc. Announces Results of Annual General Meeting
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s Q1 2026 results were better than consensus on revenue and EPS, but still showed a year-over-year revenue decline and weak profitability, leaving investors focused on whether Li Auto can reaccelerate growth. Li Auto Inc. Announces Unaudited First Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Negative Sentiment: Li Auto’s second-quarter revenue guidance of $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion came in well below Wall Street’s expectations, raising concerns about demand and adding pressure to the stock. Li Auto Inc (LI) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating Challenges with Strategic Innovations
• Negative Sentiment: Management also reported a first-quarter loss and shrinking margins, and several reports highlighted slowing hybrid sales and weaker-than-expected earnings, reinforcing worries that Li Auto is still facing a difficult operating environment. Li Auto Suffers Loss as Hybrid Sales Slow, Shrinking Margins

About Li Auto

Li Auto Inc is a Chinese automotive company that develops, manufactures and sells smart electric vehicles, with an early focus on range-extended electric SUVs designed for family use. The company is headquartered in China and serves the domestic market through a combination of online channels and a network of retail/showroom locations. Li Auto was founded to address range-anxiety in electric vehicle buyers by integrating a small internal-combustion engine as a range extender alongside a large battery, enabling longer driving range while retaining electric driving characteristics.

The company’s product lineup centers on multi‑occupant SUVs that combine electric propulsion, advanced in‑vehicle connectivity and driver‑assistance features.