Tesla (TSLA) shares fell more than 12% on Wednesday after the company released second-quarter earnings late Tuesday revealing that its growth this year will be “significantly lower” than its growth in 2023.
Tesla reported second-quarter revenue of $25.05 billion, beating the $24.63 billion estimate, according to Bloomberg Estimates. Tesla posted revenue of $24.93 billion in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted profit fell short of expectations, coming in at $0.52 per share compared with the $0.60 estimate.
The company said in the report that production of new vehicles, including possibly cheaper electric vehicles, remains on schedule for the first half of next year.
Ahead of Tuesday’s earnings report, Tesla shares had erased losses of more than 40% since hitting lows in April. After Wednesday’s losses, Tesla shares are now down more than 13% this year.
“Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track to start production in the first half of 2025. These vehicles will leverage portions of our current platform as well as portions of our next-generation platform and will be produced on the same production lines as our current vehicle lineup,” Tesla said in its second-quarter earnings call.
Many analysts and industry watchers believe the debut and release of cheaper EVs will drive the next upswing in EV sales, something Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously said.
Musk said during the earnings call that Tesla will unveil the robotaxi on October 10, instead of the original date of August 8. Musk said the extra time will allow Tesla to add “a few more features” to the robotaxi before the launch.
Tesla said the robotaxi will feature its previously touted “unboxed manufacturing strategy.”
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Expo in Washington, March 9, 2020. (Associated Press Photo/Susan Walsh, File) (Associated Press)
“It will be important to hear about the postponement and new timing for Robotaxi Day on the conference call as we believe the key to Tesla reaching a $1 trillion+ valuation over the next 12 months and ultimately beyond will depend on the AI/FSD story crystallizing as a path to monetization over the next few years,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note published Monday.
As for its other vehicles, Tesla said production of the Cybertruck has more than tripled compared to the first quarter and that it is on track to “achieve profitability” by the end of the year. Tesla said its Semi factory is also on track to begin production by the end of 2025.
Tesla delivered 443,956 vehicles worldwide in the second quarter, beating the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 439,302 but down about 5% from the same period in 2018. But second-quarter deliveries were a marked improvement from the 386,810 deliveries in the first quarter, sparking concern among some analysts that demand for Tesla cars may be plummeting.
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“We believe demand for Tesla has turned around after a challenging six to nine months with better than expected second quarter deliveries earlier this month marking a major ‘tipping point’ in our bull case for Tesla through the second half of 2024 and into 2025,” Ives said.
One surprise in Tesla’s second quarter production and deliveries report was the company’s announcement that it had installed 9.4 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery energy storage, the company’s highest quarterly total to date and more than double the amount of battery storage it installed in the first quarter.
Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas called Tesla’s second-quarter energy storage deployment numbers “highlighted,” noting that the 9.4GWh deployed was double the company’s forecast.
Pras Subramanian is a Yahoo Finance reporter covering the auto industry. X And on Instagram too.
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