(Yicai) Jan. 30 -- Shares of BYD, which overtook Tesla as the world's top seller of electric vehicles last year, slid after the car and battery giant’s annual profit fell shy of market expectations.

BYD [SHE: 002594] finished 3.6 percent down at CNY171.97 (USD24.08) a share today, after earlier sinking by as much as 4.5 percent. The wider Shenzhen market lost 2.4 percent.

Net profit likely jumped 74 percent to 86 percent to between CNY29 billion and CNY31 billion (USD4.1 billion and USD4.4 billion) in 2023, the Shenzhen-based firm said yesterday. That compared with an average CNY31.5 billion estimate by analysts, according to Bloomberg News.

BYD said that despite tougher competition, profitability increased through enhanced brand strength, higher overseas sales, expanded scale advantages, and effective cost controls. The automaker also sold a record number of new energy vehicles in 2023, it said.

BYD sold 3.02 million vehicles, up 62 percent on 2022, it noted. Export skyrocketed 334 percent to 242,800, while sales of its Dynasty and Ocean models jumped 55 percent to 2.88 million, and those of its Denza model reached 127,800. It also began delivering its Yangwang and Fangchengbao models last November.

According to Bloomberg’s calculations, despite BYD having record fourth-quarter sales, net profit likely shrank to between CNY7.2 billion and CNY9.2 billion (USD1 billion and USD1.3 billion) from CNY10.9 billion in the prior quarter as year-end discounting hit its annual sales goal.

Regarding its mobile components and assembly business, BYD's capacity utilization has increased and led to improved profitability, benefiting from a higher business share among major overseas clients, the recovery of demand from Android customers, and the rapid growth in NEV business and new intelligent products, according to the company.

BYD will likely sell 3.8 million NEVs this year, with an expected exports of about 500,000, according to a research report by Galaxy Securities.

A report by Soochow Securities forecasts that BYD's sales will jump 33 percent to about 4 million this year and reach 5 million in 2025, thanks to overseas expansion and the introduction of more new products.

Editor: Martin Kadiev