While investors were aware that the second quarter would be a good one, with various indications promising strong deliveries, the official Q2 figures have come out and they are better than expected.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) delivered a record number of electric car deliveries in the past three months, living up to CEO Elon Musk’s claims that Q2 would be an excellent quarter, although still a fair bit away from living up to his overall delivery promises for the year.
Tesla reported that it had delivered 95,200 cars for the second quarter on late Tuesday, setting a new record over a three-month period as well as being higher than what most analysts had expected.
The last time the automaker delivered close to this many cars was back in Q4 2018, where Tesla delivered around 91,000 cars before hitting issues with logistics as deliveries of the Model S beyond the U.S. led to problems. In turn, this led to big losses as well as highly disappointing Q1 2019 delivery numbers. In response, analysts have been largely impressed with the performance, but are still hesitant of going forward.
“Importantly, orders received during the quarter exceeded deliveries this quarter and thus the company believes it will be able to continue to grow its deliveries into 3Q19, which is important to hit its aggressive 2H implied guidance and year-end unit forecasts,” said Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives in a note Tuesday afternoon. Ives maintained as neutral rating and $230 price target. Other analysts are still highly cautious about the stock. RBC analysts wrote that the after-hours gains of Tesla’s stock “could be close to a near-term top” for Tesla investors “were the focus will shift to auto gross margins, cash flow and sustainability of demand. While 2Q19 units were better, we still caution that mix of vehicles (and discounting to move units) could weigh on profitability and hence 2Q19 likely sacrificed margins for units,” added the RBC analysts, who currently have an “underperform” or “sell” rating for the stock.
In response to the news, shares of Tesla were up 7.1 percent in today’s trading session. While the stock tumbled significantly over the past few months, falling from $350 down to around $193 per share, the past few weeks have seen shares recover back to above the $200 price range.
As of late-Tuesday, Tesla’s stock price is trading around $240 per share, a price not seen since late April and early May when the stock was in a severe decline. It will still take quite some time for the many Tesla-bears on Wall Street to change their opinions, however, as a great quarter won’t be enough to get rid of their concerns.
Tesla Company Profile
Founded in 2003 and based in Palo Alto, California, Tesla is a vertically integrated sustainable energy company that also aims to transition the world to electric mobility by making electric vehicles.
It sells solar panels and solar roofs for energy generation plus batteries for stationary storage for residential and commercial properties including utilities. The Tesla Roadster debuted in 2008, Model S in 2012, Model X in 2015, and Model 3 in 2017. Global deliveries in 2018 were 245,506 units. Tesla went public in 2010 and employs about 50,000 people. – Warrior Trading News
