Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares fell more than 9% Thursday after the electric vehicle producer missed expectations with its third-quarter results and Elon Musk sounded bearish about Cybertruck deliveries on the company’s earnings call.
Tesla posted earnings of $0.66 per share on revenue of $23.35 billion, compared to expectations of $0.74 per share on revenue of $24.16 billion. The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.05 per share on revenue of $21.45 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts have largely shrugged.
Bank of America reiterated its Neutral rating and price target of $290. Tesla shares would go on to close Thursday at $220.11.
BofA, for its part, had projected adjusted earnings per share of $0.65, meaning Tesla technically exceeded expectations.
“The very slight beat versus our estimate of $0.65 was largely driven by a lower-than-expected tax rate,” BofA analysts wrote. “Although operating earnings were lighter than we projected due to higher operating expenses, gross margin was stronger driven by robust improvement in Energy Generation & Storage profitability and a significant benefit from regulatory credits.”
They continued, “We reiterate our Neutral rating on Tesla, balancing near-term risks from the broader macro, increasing competition, and the impact of recent price cuts against its efforts to reduce costs, meaningfully grow, and unique ability to remain agile.”
Analysts at UBS sang a similar tune.
The “[k]ey metric of auto gross margin ex-credits (16.3%) missed consensus and was at the lowest level since 1Q19,” the analysts wrote. “However, investor negativity was very high so positioning could somewhat insulate the stock. We believe investors will likely lower 2024 forecasts post the print...”
Then there’s Cybertruck. Elon Musk said, "We dug our own grave with Cybertruck," on Tesla’s earnings call, adding that the company has the capacity to produce more than 125,000 Cybertrucks a year.
“Cybertruck is in pilot production and remains on track for initial deliveries this year, though we wouldn't expect anything meaningful,” UBS analysts wrote. “They expect Model Y production rate to grow slowly at Texas/Berlin.”
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel