Research archive for TSLA

Last week Tesla released some underwhelming numbers. For the whole of 2024, revenue rose just 1% to $97.7 billion. For the fourth quarter, Tesla reported revenue of $25.7 billion, only 2% higher than the same quarter the year before. The automotive division went backwards by 8%. All the heavy lifting was done by the energy generation and storage division, which grew by 113%, and services, which grew by 31%.

After Trump won back the presidency last week, markets shot higher. But some shares did better than others. Tesla surged 15% on the day. Elon Musk was a very visible supporter of Trump's campaign, but does that justify a $120 billion plus increase in Tesla's market cap? Perhaps not, but there are various theories as to how the Trump administration could be beneficial to Tesla.

Take a look at the image below from the latest Tesla shareholder deck. It shows the cumulative number of miles driven by Tesla owners using the FSD (full self-driving) software under supervision. The red section is what was driven using the new version 12 software. They crossed 2 billion miles in September.

On Wednesday after the close, Tesla released their third-quarter results. After a muted reaction to their Robotaxi launch, expectations weren't exactly peaking. Fortunately, the numbers impressed, and the stock initially shot up 12% in after-market trade and pushed higher during the day to a 22% gain!

The much anticipated Tesla Robotaxi event happened on Thursday night. As expected, the new vehicle doesn't have a steering wheel or pedals, and will cost less than $30 000. Tesla calls it a 'Cybercab' and Musk said the new car would be 'available before 2027'.

On Thursday Tesla will unveil its robotaxi product at an event in Los Angeles. The new vehicle will be called a Cybercab. It will be able to drive itself and be summoned on a Tesla ride-hailing platform. The design might look like the mock-up in the picture here.

Tesla had quarterly results out a week ago, and they were patchy, to say the least. This is a stock that hit an all-time high above $400, and is now trading around $225 per share.

Tesla reported a smaller-than-expected 5% drop in second-quarter vehicle deliveries, thanks to price cuts and sales incentives. They delivered 443 956 vehicles, beating Wall Street's estimate of 438 019. Shares jumped over 10.2%, hitting a five-month high.

Tesla is one of the worst performers in the S&P 500 this year. We've had a number of clients email us, saying that they are tired of all the negative news articles about Elon Musk. The sentiment tide seems to have turned positive lately, and the stock is up 8% over the last week.

Last week, Tesla received the green light to expand its German factory. This is an important approval because it's Tesla's only European production facility. Local councillors from the municipality voted 11-6 to allow the expansion.

Tesla announced its quarterly results on Tuesday, falling slightly short of expectations due to slowing demand in the electric vehicle market. However, shares surged by 11% as CEO Elon Musk revealed plans to increase production of more affordable models. A welcome move from the car company, whose share price has been one of the worst performers this year.

The Tesla share price has had a torrid time lately. That's not surprising when you consider the first quarter vehicle delivery numbers they reported yesterday. For the first three months of 2024 Tesla delivered 387k vehicles, far below the expected 454k. This compares very poorly to the final quarter of 2023 when 485k vehicles were delivered.

I've written a few times grumbling about excessive executive remuneration. I think in some cases the remuneration doesn't reflect the economic value created by the executive team. In my view, Elon Musk's $55 billion payday is not one of those cases. Yesterday, a court voided the incentive scheme, calling it flawed, and ordered Musk to return his share options.

On Wednesday night, Tesla reported their quarterly numbers, and the market was not impressed, sending the stock back below $200 a share for the first time since May 2023. Tesla has fallen out of favour with traders since September last year when it became evident that higher interest rates were having a serious impact on vehicle sales.

Tesla had results out last week, which were somewhat underwhelming. The company is the leading maker of electric vehicles by far, and has achieved a great deal in the last decade. However, its current stock market valuation requires that it continue to grow very fast.