All eyes will be riveted on Elon Musk and his Tesla Inc. TSLA team as they prepare to comment on the results, outlook and near-term direction of the company after one of the company’s toughest-ever quarters on the earnings call scheduled for Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. EST.
Investors had already factored in weaker profitability, premised on margin erosion orchestrated by recent price cuts.
Tesla’s executive team will also address select questions from investors, both retail and institutional, collected through a third-party shareholder, the Q&A platform named “SAY.”
At the time of writing the story, more than 2,000 questions were submitted by 8,100 participants, representing 5.6 million shares. Some of the most upvoted questions were:
1. Impact Of Price Cuts: A retail investor’s question regarding the average selling price of a Tesla vehicle and gross margins following the recent strings of price cuts received 3,100 upvotes.
Tesla’s price cut started in China in late October and it culminated with a steep downward adjustment to prices in the U.S. on Jan. 13.
Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch said investors anticipated a reset in auto manufacturing margins to the mid-20s. “The core issue on TSLA shares is whether the company can continue to grow while maintaining premium margins for both GM and OM,” he added.
For the third quarter that ended Sept. 30, the company reported an automotive gross margin of 27.9% and GAAP gross margin of 25.1%.
2. Cybertruck Update: Another retail investor wanted to know whether Cybertruck production was still on track to start in the mid-year. This question received 2,900 upvotes.
Another question on when Tesla would announce the specification and pricing of the production model Cybertruck received 1,500 votes.
After Tesla’s Semi launch in December, investors now looked ahead to Cybertruck, a widely awaited electric vehicle pick-up truck.
The results of a recent poll run by Future Fund’s Gary Black, which sought opinions on which was the biggest upside opportunity for Tesla over the next 12-18 months, showed the Cybertruck won hands down with 35.2% of votes. Volume boost from recent price cuts received 28.7% of the votes.
What is biggest upside opportunity for $TSLA stock next 12-18 months?
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) January 22, 2023
See Also: How Did Elon Musk Make His Money
3. Future Of Solar Roof: Investors were also keen to know about Tesla’s solar roof product. A retail investor pointed out the product continued to struggle to gain traction and what Tesla had learned from it. He also wanted to know the changes the company foresaw in future versions of the product to increase scale. This question received 2,000 votes.
4. Update on 4680 Battery: A retail investor wanted to get a detailed explanation of the ramp of the 4680 battery, the company’s in-house battery unveiled in 2020. This question received 1,500 votes.
In late December, Tesla tweeted that it had achieved a weekly production capacity of 868,000 cells, enough for use in more than 1,000 cars.
5. Declining Brand Appeal: About 1,500 investors upvoted a question on whether Tesla tracked its brand appeal and how it would mitigate any damage done to its brand image.
The investor who asked the question noted the results from recent surveys showed declining brand appeal amid Musk’s polarizing political opinions.
Some of the other questions posed include information on full-driving-software Hardware 4 that is likely to come first to the Cybertruck, current and future production forecast for Tesla Energy’s powerwall, megapack and Tesla virtual power and whether Tesla Insurance would become a big enough revenue source to warrant providing more details on its financials.
Photo: Courtesy Tesla Inc.
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