Stock falls
Tesla falls short of expectations
January 25, 2024, 12:02 a.m
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Tesla missed market expectations with its quarterly figures. Profit margins and sales disappoint. The car manufacturer is also signaling uncertainty for 2024. The US company expects growth to be “significantly” slowed here.
Price cuts and purchasing incentives have ruined the car manufacturer Tesla’s balance sheet. The electric car pioneer also expects sales growth to slow down this year. Tesla shares initially fell by around five percent in after-hours trading, but then halved the loss over time.
After the market closed, the group reported a gross profit margin of 17.6 percent for the three months to December. A year ago it was 23.8 percent and in the previous quarter it was 17.9 percent. Analysts were currently expecting 18.3 percent. Sales were also disappointing. Revenues rose by three percent to $25.2 billion in the fourth quarter. But that was the lowest growth in more than three years and was below experts’ estimates of 25.6 billion.
“Between two waves of growth”
Tesla also said the sales growth rate in 2024 could be “significantly lower” than in 2023 as Tesla works to introduce the next generation of vehicles at Gigafactory Texas. The company is between two waves of growth: one through the Models 3 and Y and a second wave that begins with the next generation vehicle platform. Tesla did not repeat its previously stated goal of achieving an average annual growth rate of 50 percent over several years.
The company cut prices last year. The most popular Model Y in the USA costs around 26 percent less than before. However, Tesla achieved its goal of 1.8 million vehicles delivered for the full year. CEO Elon Musk had meanwhile warned that demand would be adversely affected by high interest rates. In the fourth quarter, Tesla lost its place as the leading electric vehicle manufacturer by sales to China’s BYD, whose model range is both cheaper and more diverse.