Panasonic Reports Q3 Earnings Beat, As Shares Tank After Tesla's CATL Partnership

Panasonic Corporation's PCRFY posted better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter of the financial year that ended in December 2019 on Monday, after shares tanked earlier in the day.

What Happened

The Japanese electronics maker reported an operating profit of about $924 million in the third quarter, up 2.9% from a year ago, and beating the average analyst estimate of $620 million by nearly 33%, Reuters noted.

Panasonic posted $2.2 billion in total operating profits from the nine months leading up to December. The company also kept its estimate for the whole year at $2.8 billion, about 1.6% higher than analyst estimate.

The electronics maker drove the profit mainly on the back of its cost-cutting measures and a blooming partnership with Tesla Inc., where it makes batteries for the automaker at its Nevada manufacturing plant.

Panasonic on Monday also announced a partnership with another automaker Toyota Motor Corporation TOYOF. The two companies will jointly develop prismatic batteries for electric vehicles.

Toyota will own 51% of the joint venture, with Panasonic owning the other 49%. The venture will start operating in April, and the batteries would be available to all automakers and not just Toyota.

Not All Is Well

In yet another statement on Monday, Panasonic announced that it would stop selling televisions in Australia due to "current local market conditions," Gizmodo Australia reported.

Panasonic suffers another blow as it loses the exclusivity of being Tesla's battery supplier.

Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd., in its regulatory filing, confirmed that it had signed a two-year battery supplier agreement with Tesla.

South Korea's LG Chem Ltd. LGCLF has also reportedly signed a battery supplier agreement with the Elon Musk-led company.

Price Action

Panasonic's shares closed 2.4% lower at $9.91 in Tokyo on Monday. The shares closed 1.58% lower at $9.97 in the otc market on Friday.

Photo Credit: Public domain photo via Wikimedia.