Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) reported mixed fortunes in its third-quarter results with revenue missing Wall Street expectations but earnings higher than forecast.
Revenue was US$21.45 billion versus market forecasts of US$21.96 billion, while earnings of US$1.05 per share topped Street expectations of $0.99 per share.
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle giant described the quarter as strong with record revenue, operating profit and cash flow.
Operating income rose to $3.7 billion in the quarter and operating margins reached 17.2%, but the company said profitability had been impacted by higher raw material, commodity, logistics and warranty costs together with a negative forex hit of $250 million.
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This was compounded by ramp inefficiencies from its new factories in Berlin and Texas, the company said.
Automotive revenue came in at $18.69 billion, an increase of 55% from a year ago, while the cost of revenue for Tesla’s core automotive business rose to $13.48 billion during the quarter, up from $10.15 billion during the second quarter, in line with the increase in automotive sales.
EV giant sticks to previous guidance
Tesla reiterated its previous guidance, saying: “Over a multi-year horizon, we expect to achieve 50% annual growth in vehicle deliveries.”
“The rate of growth will depend on our equipment capacity, factory uptime, operational efficiency and the capacity and stability of the supply chain” it added.
With regards to funding, the company commented: “We have sufficient liquidity to fund our product roadmap.”
Deliveries of its semi-electric heavy-duty truck will begin in December, but no firm timings were given for the start of production of its Cybertruck pickup, with the group saying only that it would be produced in Texas after the ramp-up of Model Y production there.
The company said that as delivery volumes were reaching such significant levels in the final weeks of each quarter, transportation capacity was becoming expensive and difficult to secure leading to more vehicles being in transit at the end of each quarter.
It said it expects that smoothing out outbound logistics through the quarter will improve cost per vehicle.
Following the release of its results, Tesla stock had fallen about 3.5% in after-hours trading.
Contact Jeremy at jeremy@proactiveinvestors.com