Tesla 4Q earnings top expectations, company sees 500K+ deliveries in 2020

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Tesla’s (TSLA) stock surged after the company posted fourth-quarter results that handily topped consensus expectations, which came in the wake of a faster-than-expected launch of local production in China and record deliveries at the end of last year.

Here were the main metrics from the Tesla’s fourth-quarter 2019 report, compared to consensus expectations compiled by Bloomberg:

  • Revenue: $7.38 billion vs. $7.06 billion expected

  • Adjusted earnings per share: $2.14 vs. $1.74 expected

The stock, up more than 10% in after-hours trading Wednesday, held onto most of these gains into market open Thursday. Tesla’s shares hit a fresh record high Thursday, soaring 10% to $639 per share shortly after market open.

Tesla also guided toward an increase in deliveries over last year and said vehicle deliveries “should comfortably exceed 500,000 units” in 2020. Tesla handed over about 367,500 units in 2019, or a level consistent with the company’s prior guidance range. Fourth-quarter deliveries totaled around 112,000.

“Due to ramp of Model 3 in Shanghai and Model Y in Fremont, production will likely outpace deliveries this year,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. “Both solar and storage deployments should grow at least 50% in 2020.”

First-quarter results could be temporarily impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn told investors during an earnings call Wednesday. Tesla anticipates a one to one-and-a-half week delay to its ramp of Shanghai-built Model 3 units due to a government required factory shutdown in the region, he said. Kirkhorn said the company is also monitoring for supply chain interruptions for cars built in Fremont, but so far is “not aware of anything material.”

In its earnings release, Tesla said it expected production for its Model Y vehicle would begin at its newly opened Shanghai Gigafactory in 2021. Tesla’s Fremont factory has already begun ramping production for the Model Y this month, or ahead of schedule, the company said, and Model Y deliveries will begin by the end of the current quarter.

Tesla said installed production capacity for the Model 3 and Model Y combined is now 400,000 units per year, and that it is adding machinery across its factories to boost that level to 500,000 units per year.

The company’s cash position also improved during the fourth quarter, further assuaging cash balance concerns that had once been a point of scrutiny. Cash and cash equivalents improved by $930 million to a record $6.3 billion during the quarter, which Tesla said was driven “through persistent cost control across the business.”