Tesla vehicles are shown at a sales and repair center in Vista, California, June 3, 2022.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Actions Tesla fell 13% on Tuesday morning, a day after the electric automobile maker reported fourth-quarter 2022 vehicle production and delivery figures.
The deliveries are the closest approximation to the sales disclosed by Tesla. The corporate recorded a complete of 405,278 deliveries in the quarter and 1.31 million deliveries in the full 12 months. These figures were a record for the automaker headed by Elon Musk and a 40% increase in year-on-year deliveries, but they fell wanting analysts’ expectations.
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In line with consensus estimates by analysts compiled by FactSet, as of December 31, 2022, Wall Street expected Tesla to report roughly 427,000 deliveries in the final quarter of the 12 months. Estimates updated in December and included in the FactSet consensus ranged from 409,000 to 433,000.
These newer estimates were according to the company’s consensus, distributed by Tesla’s vp of investor relations, Martin Viech.
Some Wall Street analysts consider Tesla’s shipments are skirting the electric vehicle maker’s troubles, but others see a buying opportunity for the company in 2023.
Baird analyst Ben Kallo, who recently named Tesla a top pick for 2023, maintained his higher rating and said he would remain a stock buyer ahead of the company’s earnings report, which is scheduled for January 25.
“Q4 deliveries fell wanting consensus but exceeded our estimates,” he said in a Tuesday note. “Importantly, production increased by around 20% q/q and we expect it to proceed into 2023 as the gigafactories in Berlin and Austin proceed to expand.”
Analysts at Goldman Sachs said they viewed the delivery report as “increasingly negative” and viewed Tesla as an organization that “is well positioned for long-term growth.” Goldman reiterated its buy advice for the stock in a Monday note and said making vehicles more cost-effective in a troublesome macroeconomic environment can be a “key driver of growth.”
“We consider the key debates shall be whether vehicle deliveries can speed up again, margins and the Tesla brand,” the analysts said.
Tesla shares experienced an extreme year-round sell-off in 2022, prompting CEO Musk to inform employees in late December to not “be too concerned about the stock market madness.”
Musk blamed Tesla’s falling share price partly on rising rates of interest. But critics point to his skyrocketing $44 billion Twitter acquisition as the slide’s larger perpetrator.
Morgan Stanley analysts said they believed the company’s share price weakness was a “buying window”.
“Between the deteriorating macroeconomic situation, record low costs and increasing competition, all automobile firms must overcome hurdles in the coming 12 months,” they wrote in a Tuesday memo. “Nevertheless, on this context, we consider TSLA has the potential to increase its lead in the electric vehicle race because it leverages its cost and scale benefits to distance itself from the competition.”
— Lora Kolodny and Michael Bloom of CNBC contributed to this report.