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Between April and June, Tesla posted a net profit of $2.3 billion, instead of the $1.9 billion expected by analysts. On the other hand, Elon Musk’s company disappointed with a turnover of 16.9 billion dollars.
© Getty — Justin Sullivan
The second quarter was tougher than the first for Tesla, but the electric car maker did more than limit damage. Indeed, the American company recorded a net profit of 2.3 billion dollars, instead of the 1.9 billion dollars expected by analysts.
On the other hand, Elon Musk’s company disappointed, with a turnover of 16.9 billion dollars. For their part, the markets were expecting $17.1 billion in revenue. As for the operating margin, it now reached 14.6%, well below the 19% of the first quarter. Nevertheless, this remains a substantial operating margin compared to other market players.
New factories that “lose billions of dollars”
If they remain honorable, the financial performance of Tesla contrasts with the exceptional figures of the beginning of the year. Between January and March, the American manufacturer had earned a profit of 3.3 billion dollars and chained a seventh consecutive quarter of record deliveries. Record that ended in the second quarter, during which 254,695 electric cars were delivered, against more than 310,000 in the first three months of the year.
The company’s pace has been affected lately by the global shortage of electronic components and the rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic in China, which has sharply slowed the pace of production at its Gigafactory in Shanghai. At the same time, the new factories of the American firm, in Austin (United States) and Berlin (Germany), are not yet able to produce enough vehicles and batteries to amortize their operating costs. In a video interview with Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley, Elon Musk acknowledged that these two factories “lose billions of dollars”.
1.4 million vehicles produced in 2022?
Nevertheless, Tesla, which sold 75% of its bitcoins to add $963 million to its cash position, maintains its forecast of “50% average annual growth” for its deliveries of electric vehicles on a “multi-year horizon”. For the year 2022, the American manufacturer hopes to produce 1.4 million vehicles, after having delivered nearly a million electric vehicles in 2021.
In front of analysts, Elon Musk was relatively optimistic for the second half of the year, saying that he thought “inflation will decline towards the end of the year”, while asking investors to take this prediction with a grain of salt . Faced with the uncertain economic climate, the American billionaire announced in June the elimination of around 3 to 3.5% of Tesla’s workforce. In addition, the company boss indicated that the Cybertruck electric pickup would not be available before mid-2023.