UPDATED 18:04 EDT / JULY 23 2024

EMERGING TECH

Tesla shares drop 6% on mixed results as price-cutting drives down automotive revenue

Shares in Tesla Inc. fell about 6% in late trading today after the electric car maker and energy company reported mixed quarterly results.

For its second quarter that ended June 30, Tesla reported adjusted earnings per share of 52 cents, down from 90 cents in the same quarter of last year, on revenue of  $25.5 billion, up 2% year-over-year. Anaysts had been expecting adjusted earnings of 61 cents on revenue on revenue of $24.33 billion.

The headline revenue figure was a record high for Tesla, but the growth didn’t come from vehicles but from the company’s solar operations. Total automotive revenue in the quarter was $19.878 billion, down 7% compared to the same quarter in 2023, while energy generation and storage revenue came in at $3.014 billion, double the second quarter of 2023 and nearly double the $1.635 billion the division made in the first quarter.

The dip in revenue from vehicles was a direct result of price-cutting driven by competition, particularly from Chinese electric car companies. However, the number of vehicles delivered was up, coming in at 443,956 in the quarter, up from 386,810 vehicles in the first quarter.

Outside the Model 3 and Model Y sales figures, Tesla lumps other vehicle figures together, with the “other” figure coming in at 24,555 produced and 21,551 delivered. The other figure would include Tesla’s troubled Cybertruck, which the company claims was the best-selling EV pickup in the U.S. in the second quarter.

In an investor update, Tesla further expanded on its plans to introduce more affordable electric vehicles, details of which were first provided in the previous quarter’s update.

Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for start of production in the first half of 2025,” Tesla said. “These vehicles will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current platforms and will be able to be produced on the same manufacturing lines as our current vehicle line-up.”

In an investor call after the earnings release, Chief Executive Elon Musk also reportedly revealed that Tesla will unveil its plans for a robotaxi service on Oct. 10. The robotaxi is said to include an “unboxed manufacturing strategy,” whatever that means, but notably, Musk has been saying Tesla has a robotaxi on the way since 2019.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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