Tesla's Q1 Earnings Recap: Per-Share Loss Better Than Expected, Model 3 Updates

The effects of Tesla Inc TSLA’s already known deliveries decline and production beat were made clear in the firm’s first-quarter earnings report.

Tesla’s $3.409 billion in revenue beat the Street’s $3.31 billion forecast, while adjusted earnings per share of $(3.35) beat consensus estimates of $(3.58).

Q1 Highlights

• Tesla reported end-of-quarter cash balance of $2.7 billion.
• Operating expenses increased 14 percent year-over-year and less than 2 percent quarter-over-quarter.
• Auto GAAP gross margins rose 80 basis points sequentially on 1-percent segment revenue gains. Auto revenue increase 19 percent year-over-year.
• Energy storage deployments expanded 161 percent quarter-over-quarter and posted annual revenue gains of 92 percent.
• The solar business deployed 76 megawatts of energy generation systems.

The firm also reported continuation of Model 3 ramp momentum from the late first quarter into the early part of the second.

“More than half of our capex in Q1 was related to completion of work for Model 3 production capacity at Fremont and Gigafactory 1 plus payments to suppliers for tooling,” Tesla's report read.

Guidance Updates

• Management cut 2018 capex projections from more than $3.4 billion to below $3 billion.
• The firm expects GAAP profitability and positive cash flow in the third and fourth quarters.

The latter guidance is based on the intent to produce 5,000 Model 3s per week in about two months and to grow Model 3 gross margins from negative to “highly positive” in the second half.

“Ultimately, the growth of Model 3 and the profit associated with it will help us accelerate the transition to sustainable energy even faster,” management wrote in its report.

Shares of Tesla were volatile in after-hours trading. At time of publication, the stock was up less than 1 percent at $302.20.

Related Links:

What Wall Street Expects To See In Tesla's Q1 Earnings

Tesla Reports Q4 Earnings Beat, Record Vehicle Deliveries