Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) beat Wall Street forecasts for sales and profits in the past quarter and boss Elon Musk predicted forecast electric vehicle deliveries would grow well above 50% in 2022.
The chief executive said the prime focus of the company this year will be scaling up total vehicle output.
Having revealed earlier this month that annual vehicle deliveries surged 87% to more than 936,000 for 2021, Musk said the production run rate at the end of the year was over 1.2mln from its current two 'gigafactories' in California and Shanghai.
Next on stream is likely to be the new Giga Austin in Texas, which already started building Model Y vehicles last year. There was still no definitive start date for a fourth, Giga Berlin, as it awaits final permitting.
“If we were to introduce new vehicles our total vehicle output would decrease,” he said on a call with analysts. “We will not be introducing new vehicle models this year,” he added, a tacit confirmation that launch of the Cybertruck has been delayed.
Answering an investor question about the US$25,000 car that he promised in 2020, Musk said, “We’re not currently working on the $25k car. We have enough on our plate right now. Too much, frankly.”
Musk said supply chain and labour issues meant the gigafactories were unable to run at full capacity during the period, an issue he said is persisting in 2022.
Looking at the numbers, revenue in the fourth quarter rose 65% to $17.7bn, above market expectations, reflecting a 71% increase in automotive sales to US$16bn.
Operating profits rocketed to US$2.6bn from US$575m the year before, reflecting higher deliveries with lower per-vehicles costs as well as improved profitability in leasing and services, and offsetting a 50% rise in operating expenses to US$2.2bn as it builds the new factories.
Tesla ended 2021 with US$10.9bn cash in the bank, with free cash flow of US$2.8bn during the quarter compared to US$1.9bn a year ago.
The shares initially dropped almost 6.5% in after-hours trading on fears that production would remain constrained by continued supply chain issues, but gradually rebounded to traded roughly flat.
"Let's not forget Tesla is still worth more than the likes of Volkswagen, Toyota and Ford combined, and still doesn't sell anywhere near as many cars," said market analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.
Laura Hoy, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the Q4 revenue uptick was "somewhat par for the course".
She said supply chain issues are "problematic because investors have long been waiting to reap the benefits of the group’s operating leverage which should cause profits to rise faster than revenue".
"Ultimately the fourth quarter was another good one for Tesla, but with a nosebleed valuation, the group’s been unable to escape the jittery tech sell-off as inflation and interest rate worries plague the wider market.”