Tesla third-quarter earnings slow, missing forecasts

By Chris Isidore, CNN

New York (CNN) — Tesla reported a drop in third-quarter earnings as the electric vehicle maker fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Tesla reported adjusted earnings of $2.3 billion in the quarter, or 66 cents a share, down 37% from a year earlier and the smallest profits it reported in two years. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had forecast a slowdown in earnings but still expected it to report earnings of 73 cents a share.

The company also missed on third-quarter revenue of $23.4 billion, up 9% from a year earlier but short of the $24.1 billion forecast by analysts. Tesla has been repeatedly cutting the prices of its vehicles to boost sales demand in the face of growing electric vehicle competition from established automakers.

The company once again reported thinner profit margins, even if it is still more profitable than traditional automakers. Its gross margin fell to 17.9%, down 7 percentage points from a year earlier. And the more closely watched adjusted automotive margin, excluding sales from regulatory credits, fell nearly 11 percentage points to about 18%.

“Clearly not a roses and rainbows quarter for Tesla as the company missed the street across most metrics,” said Dan Ives, tech analyst at Wedbush Securities and a bull on Tesla stock. “Price cuts have hurt margins and now the focus is when do the price cuts end?”

But the company said that it has had success cutting the cost of each vehicle, although it said costs are higher at its new factories in Texas and Germany than its established plants in California and China.

“We have implemented necessary upgrades in [the third quarter] to enable further unit cost reductions. We continue to believe that an industry leader needs to be a cost leader,” said the company’s statement.

The company said its profits and sales were both hurt as it temporarily shut several production lines for upgrades, which it said led to a sequential decline in production volumes.

On a call with analysts, Tesla CEO Elon Musk talked at length about the impact of higher interest rates on car buyers and the demand for Tesla’s vehicles. He said the rise in rates is part of the reason for the price cuts by Tesla this year.

“I am worried about the high interest rate environment that we’re in,’ he said. “I just can’t emphasize this enough that for the vast majority of people, buying a car is about the monthly payment.”

He said high interest rates are causing a delay with Tesla’s next factory, planned for Mexico.

“We want to just get a sense for [what] the global economy is like before we go full tilt on the Mexico factory,” he said. “If interest rates start coming down, we will accelerate.”

He said unspecified wars are also a headwind for car sales.

“If people are reading about wars all over the world, buying a car isn’t front of mind,” he said.

But it said it is still on track to deliver 1.8 million vehicles for the year. That target would require its fourth quarter sales to be up 17% from what it achieved in the last three months of 2022.

Tesla also said it still expects to begin delivery of the long-delayed Cybertruck pickup by the end of this year. Soon after the earnings report, Musk tweeted out that first deliveries of the Cybertruck are now scheduled for November 30.

But Musk cautioned it will take some time before the company is able to make money on the Cybertruck, given how different the truck is than what Tesla has made before now.

“I think it is our best product ever,” he said. “It is going to … require immense work to reach volume production and be cash flow positive at a price that people can afford,” he said. “So I just want to temper expectations for Cybertruck. It’s a great product, but financially, it will take, I don’t know, a year to 18 months before it is a significant positive cash flow contributor. I wish there was some way for that to be different, but that’s my best guess.”

Those assurances helped to support the shares of Tesla soon after the after-hours earnings report, as shares were up more than 1% at first. But after the call with investors and Musk’s comments about near-term losses with the Cybertruck and a delay in the Mexican factory, shares fell nearly 4% in after-hours trading. Shares have nearly doubled in price so far this year after losing 65% of their value in 2022.

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