Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock traded lower in Monday morning’s dealing after third-quarter delivery numbers fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Elon Musk’s EV maker told investors it produced some 430,488 vehicles in the quarter, delivering 435,059 units – that marked deliveries around 30% stronger than this time last year but, crucially, fell some way shy of the 461,000 expected by the market.
Notably, the missed consensus has already been reducing in recent weeks as the market factored in a more challenging market environment, especially in China, where demand has become tighter and competition from cheaper rivals is on the up.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives described the quarterly report of delivery data as “nothing to write home about”, noting that the decline represented longer-than-expected downtimes of factories in Shanghai and Austin, resulting in some 20,000 vehicles shifting into the fourth quarter from the third.
He pointed to the fact that Musk’s EV firm is still sticking to its full-year target of 1.8 million deliveries, suggesting a strong fourth quarter is now needed to achieve this.
“We see better days ahead for 4Q and 2024,” Ives said in a note.
In New York, Tesla shares were down 1.5% at $246.48 (and had traded as low as $243.33 in premarket trade).