All eyes were on Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) over the weekend, with the company reporting its much-anticipated third-quarter car delivery figures. Most analysts were already predicting another record-breaking quarter for the reigning electric vehicle manufacturer. It turns out they were right, as Tesla’s results again outperformed the already optimistic estimates of a largely bullish Wall Street.
The company reported that it delivered 241,300 electric vehicles during the third quarter of 2021. That’s significantly higher than the 220,900 deliveries that were originally expected. The vast majority of Tesla’s sales were of the Model 3 and Model Y cars, while less than 9,000 sales came from the Model S and X vehicles.
In comparison to last quarter, where Tesla delivered 201,250 cars, that’s a massive improvement over a single quarter. Unfortunately for analysts, Tesla doesn’t break apart its sales figures from China as opposed to the United States. We do know that Tesla started shipping parts from its Shanghai plant to its U.S. facilities this year to help with logistics.
“Our delivery count should be viewed as slightly conservative, as we only count a car as delivered if it is transferred to the customer and all paperwork is correct. Final numbers could vary by up to 0.5% or more,” read an official statement from Tesla. “We would like to thank our customers for their patience ad we work through global supply chain and logistics challenges.”
Unlike most other companies, Tesla reports its quarterly delivery figures separately from its regular Q3 results. Investors will have to wait a bit longer for those other financial figures. However, from a stock market perspective, car deliveries are the main metric that growth investors pay attention to, with other figures like revenue growth and profitability being secondary, although still important.
Unlike other car companies, Tesla has been hit less hard by this semiconductor shortage than others in the industry. For a brief time, Tesla suspended some of its operations at its Shanghai assembly plant, although that was short-lived. Elon Musk has said that the semiconductor shortage will sooner or later sort itself out and likely won’t be around for longer than a year. In comparison, other carmakers have cut production by 10% or more overall.
Tesla stock will likely jump a bit on this news, but likely not by much since the deliveries beat was already expected. Since the start of the year, however, Tesla has been up only 6.2%. Shares tumbled significantly earlier this year, with the company currently sitting at a lofty $767 billion market cap. Many shareholders already consider the stock overpriced at the moment.
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, Model 3 in 2017, and Model Y in 2020. Global deliveries in 2019 were 367,656 units. Tesla went public in 2010 and employs about 50,000 people. – Warrior Trading News
