In the first quarter of this year, when the new crown epidemic in many parts of the world has been counterattacked and the auto industry has been plagued by supply chain problems, Tesla still handed over a more eye-catching report card than Wall Street expected.
After the U.S. stock market on Wednesday, April 20, Eastern Time, Tesla announced that the revenue, earnings and gross margin in the first quarter were higher than the market consensus expectations, cash flow was stronger than expected, and capital expenditures were higher than expected:
Operating income in the first quarter was $18.756 billion, up 81% year-on-year from the first quarter of last year, flat with the year-on-year growth rate in the fourth quarter of last year and higher than analysts' expectations of $17.92 billion.
Non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the first quarter were $3.22, up 246% year-over-year, up from 217% in the fourth quarter of last year and expected $2.27 by analysts.
Adjusted net profit for the first quarter was $3.736 billion, up 255% year-on-year and 219% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Gross profit in the first quarter was $5.46 billion, up 147% year-on-year, and gross margin under GAAP caliber was 29.1%, 7.79 percentage points higher than the first quarter of last year, higher than analysts' expectations of 25.8% and 24.7% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Gross profit in the automotive business in the first quarter was $5.539 billion, up 132% year-on-year, gross margin under GAAP caliber was 32.9%, 6.36 percentage points higher than the first quarter of last year, and analysts expected 28.4%, compared with 30.6% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Capital expenditures in the first quarter were $1.767 billion, up 31% year-over-year, analysts expected $1.66 billion, and spending was $1.81 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, up 57% year-over-year.
Free cash flow in the first quarter was $2.228 billion, up 660% year-over-year and down 19.7% from the fourth quarter of last year, and analysts expected $671.8 million, compared with a 49% increase in the fourth quarter of last year to $2.775 billion.
Customer deposits (down payments) increased to $1.125 billion in the first quarter from $925 million in the fourth quarter of last year, up 21.6% sequentially and 51% year-over-year, while analysts expected $878.2 million, down 5% sequentially.
Cash and cash equivalents in the first quarter were $17.51 billion, up 2.1 percent year-over-year and below analysts' expectations of $18.63 billion.
So far, Tesla has had five consecutive quarters of revenue exceeding the $10 billion mark, three consecutive quarters of revenue hit a single-quarter record high, 11 consecutive quarters of positive profit, five consecutive quarters of EPS earnings hit a record high, adjusted net profit of more than $1 billion for five consecutive quarters, three consecutive quarters of automotive business gross margin of more than 30%.
After the earnings report, Tesla shares, which closed down nearly 5 percent on Wednesday, jumped, rising more than 6 percent at one point after hours.
Continued warnings of supply chain restrictions continuing throughout the year Reaffirming deliveries will increase by more than 50% per annum Expected to increase by 60% this year
Before the earnings report, some analysts pointed out that the current tesla problem is obviously not demand, but supply and input costs. Supply-side constraints have not yet weakened, but they are already offsetting the increase in input costs, after all, Tesla has raised prices several times.
At the same time as the earnings report was released on Wednesday, Tesla said that the challenges related to the supply chain continued.
"In addition to chip shortages, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has put pressure on companies' supply chains and factory operations. In recent months, the prices of some raw materials have risen several times. The impact of inflation on the cost structure has prompted us to adjust our product pricing, but we continue to focus on reducing production costs as much as possible. ”
Tesla said it plans to expand manufacturing capacity as soon as possible, and as in the fourth quarter of last year, it continues to expect the company's average annual growth rate of vehicle deliveries to exceed 50% over the years, believing that this expected growth rate will depend on the capacity of equipment, operational efficiency, supply chain capabilities and efficiency.
Tesla CEO Musk said on the conference call that Tesla has reason to achieve a 60% shipment growth rate this year, and is still confident in the average annual shipment growth of 50% over many years.
As in the fourth quarter of last year, Tesla once again issued a warning that production mainly faces supply chain constraints:
"Due to the supply chain as a major constraint, our proprietary plants have been operating at below (installed) capacity levels for several quarters, which is likely to continue beyond 2022."
Recently, Tesla has repeatedly expanded its production capacity. In late March, Tesla's first manufacturing plant in Europe, the Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, was officially put into operation. The plant is expected to have an annual production capacity of 500,000 units, with production models of the Model Y and some Model 3 models. Less than a month later, early this month, Tesla opened its new factory in Austin, Texas. The Wall Street Article mentioned at the time that as Tesla has expanded its production capacity wildly over the past two years, the new Austin plant and the Berlin factory are expected to double Tesla's annual production together, and Reuters said it could reach 2 million units.
Tesla disclosed on Wednesday that the new plant in Texas began shipments of model Y in April this year, and it is expected that later this year, the Texas plant will be able to produce model Y equipped with 4680 battery structure battery pack and Model Y equipped with 2170 battery moduleless battery pack structure.
Shanghai plant production in the first quarter is strong After the resumption of production, it will pay close attention to the situation
Earlier this month, Tesla announced that it delivered 310,000 cars in the first quarter, setting a new record for the highest quarterly delivery volume set in the fourth quarter of last year, a year-on-year increase of 67.5%. Wall Street News pointed out that the Shanghai Gigafactory continued to hold tesla's position as a global export center, exporting 40,500 and 33,300 vehicles in January and February, respectively.
At the end of March this year, the Shanghai Super Factory suspended production due to the epidemic and officially resumed work and production on Tuesday. Credit Suisse expects that assuming production is still below normal in the weeks after the resumption of work, the three-week shutdown of the Shanghai plant may have a greater impact on production in the second quarter than in the first quarter, and Tesla's production may be reduced by about 90,000 units.
Tesla said on Wednesday that the shanghai factory's one-week productivity in the first quarter remained strong, but the Shanghai epidemic caused the Shanghai factory and supply chain parts to temporarily stop production. At present, the Shanghai plant has begun to resume production to a limited extent, and the company will continue to pay close attention to the situation.
According to the data of the Association, Tesla's cumulative sales in China exceeded a record high of 180,000 in the first quarter of this year. In March, when Tesla raised prices three times in a week, the company delivered a total of 65,814 vehicles in China, and only exported 60 vehicles in that month, setting a new low in export volume, highlighting the strong demand in the Chinese market.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas expects Tesla to deliver 1.46 million vehicles in fiscal 2022, up 56 percent from 2021. He believes that Tesla will increasingly rely on China to reach this level of delivery, which has both strong demand and epidemic-related interference.
Revenue from selling "carbon" doubled in the first quarter
Revenue from the sale of carbon credits, a major contributor to Tesla's past profitability, also surged, rising more than 116 percent, from $314 million in the fourth quarter of last year to $679 million. This is due to the Biden administration's introduction of a new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard, which is stricter than the Obama administration.
Last year Biden announced that by 2030, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 50 to 52 percent from 2005, nearly double the target promised under the Obama administration.
Gene Munster, co-founder of venture capital firm Loup Ventures, commented that Tesla's carbon credits in the first quarter were impressive, telling other auto companies how high the carbon credit from the mass sale of electric cars was, and they were lagging behind Tesla in this regard.
The FSD Beta is scheduled to be released in the United States this year to mass-produce robo-taxis in 2024
On autopilot, Tesla said it continues to develop a beta version of fully autonomous driving (FSD) software, with seven software upgrades this year, and will continue to study reducing autopilot detachment, especially focusing on unprotected left turns and smooth driving by reducing deceleration. Since March of this year, Tesla has released FSD Beta to some Canadian customers. Tesla's goal is to release the FSD Beta to all U.S. users by the end of this year.
Earlier this month, Tesla CEO Musk said Tesla would launch a dedicated self-driving taxi with a trendy appearance, but did not disclose a specific time frame.
On Wednesday's conference call, Tesla revealed that it is working on a roboTaxi that will neither configure the steering wheel nor install foot pedals. Tesla will host a robot Taxi car event in 2023, with the goal of achieving mass production in 2024.
Nearly half of Tesla's cars installed LFP batteries in the first quarter, and the Texas plant will produce Cyberterck
Tesla said more than once last year that lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries will be an important companion battery for Tesla's models. After acknowledging the high price of battery materials, Tesla said on Wednesday,
The diversification of battery chemistry is key to long-term capacity growth. That's why nearly half of Tesla's cars in the first quarter were equipped with LFP batteries, which don't contain nickel and cobalt.
In terms of electric pickup cyberruck, Tesla said that cybertruck's industrialization is making progress, and it is currently planned that the Texas factory will start producing Cyberteruck after the Model Y production ramps up.