Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France.
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By way of comparison, during the first quarter of 2023, Tesla reported net income of $2.51 billion on revenue of $23.33 billion. During the second quarter last year, Tesla reported net income of $2.27 billion on $16.93 billion in revenue.
Early this month, Tesla reported 466,140 total vehicle deliveries for the second quarter and said it had produced 479,700 electric vehicles. Deliveries are the closest approximation of sales that Tesla reports.
Those deliveries were higher than Wall Street expected, and were partly driven by incentives and discounts. Correspondingly, operating margins came in at 9.6%, the lowest for at least the last five quarters. Total gross margin came in at 18.2%, also a low for the same period.
Tesla explained in a shareholder deck that its lower margins in the second quarter resulted from reduced average sales prices “due to mix and pricing” of the cars it has been selling, and the cost of ramping up production of battery cells it designed in-house, known as the 4680 cells, among other factors.
Revenue from Tesla’s core automotive business rose 46% year-over-year to $21.27 billion, about a 6.5% increase sequentially. Its energy generation and storage revenue — from solar installations, and backup batteries — rose 74% year-over-year to $1.51 billion. With more vehicles on the road, Tesla’s “services and other” revenue, including fees for out-of-warranty vehicle repairs, rose 47% to $2.15 billion.
Tesla’s research and development costs rose to $943 million (from $771 million in the first quarter) with the company writing in a shareholder deck that it is focused on “being at the forefront of AI development,” and has started production of its Dojo “training computers.”
Tesla’s crossover, the Model Y, became the best-selling vehicle worldwide in the first quarter of 2023.
Tesla said in an investor deck that Cybertruck “factory tooling” is on track but the company is only producing “release candidate” builds so far. The news could disappoint fans who are eagerly awaiting start of deliveries of the angular, sci-fi inspired pickup that Elon Musk first promoted in 2019. In recent days, Tesla posted a photo via its social media account on Twitter showing factory workers crowded in around a Cybertruck in their Austin, Texas facility. The tweet said, “First Cybertruck built at Giga Texas!”
Besides Cybertruck details, investors will be curious for updates on Tesla’s production of 4680 battery cells, which are seen as critical to ramping up production of the company’s class 8 Semi trucks and the Cybertruck; on Tesla’s development of a humanoid robot, referred to as the Tesla Bot or Optimus; and about a new factory Tesla said it will build in Mexico.
Investors are also seeking updates on the company’s progress toward developing an autonomous or robotaxi-ready vehicle. While Musk touted Tesla’s self-driving ambitions in 2016, he said the company would conduct a hands-free trip across the U.S. by the end of 2017. Tesla has yet to complete that mission.
The company’s earnings call is scheduled to begin at 5.30pm ET.
