Electric vehicle giant Tesla disclosed its official financial results for Q4 2023 and FY 2023 after market close yesterday, January 23, 2024. Unfortunately, the company’s profit per share and revenue fell short of analysts’ estimates in the fourth quarter of the year.
Despite that, Tesla still recorded its 17th consecutive quarter of profitability in the same period.
Results vs. Expectation
Presented below are the key financial details from Tesla’s Q4 2023 report compared to analysts’ expectations:
| Results | Expectations | |
| Revenue | $ 25.167 | ~$25.598 to $25.640 billion |
| Profit Per Share (Non-GAAP) | $ 0.71 | ~ $0.73 to $0.74 |
As you can observe in the table above, Tesla flopped by 0.431 to 0.473 in revenue. Likewise, it was short 0.02 to 0.03 in profit per share (Non-GAAP. These considered, the Musk-led company’s results almost hit the analysts’ estimates in Q4 2023.
Other key info
Tesla also revealed that its free cash flow totaled a whopping $4.4 billion. This figure is indeed remarkable, considering how Tesla’s upcoming growth projects pose the highest capital and R&D expenditures to date.
In addition, Tesla’s growth profit from its Services & Other business recovered to ~$500 million last year from a ~$500 million loss in 2019.
The electric vehicle giant also reported a sequential decline in the cost of goods per car in the fourth quarter.
“Our team remains focused on growing our output, investing in our future growth, and finding additional cost efficiencies in 2024.”
Tesla
As for the total revenue, Tesla reported a year-on-year increase of 3% to $25.2 billion in Q4 2023. However, its operating income dropped YoY to $2.1 billion. In effect, its operating margin was only 8.2%.
According to Tesla, several factors affect the changes in its operating income. The negative factors are as follows:
- “reduced vehicle ASP due to pricing and mix
- increase in operating expenses partly driven by AI and other R&D projects
- lower FSD revenue recognition YoY due to FSD Beta wide release in North America in Q4’22
- cost of Cybertruck production ramp”
Meanwhile, the positive factors include the following:
- “lower cost per vehicle, including lower raw material costs, logistics costs and IRA credit benefit
- growth in vehicle deliveries
- gross profit growth in Energy Generation and Storage”
Production and deliveries
In the fourth quarter alone, Tesla’s deliveries reached 484,507 units. Of that total, Tesla Model 3/Y accounted for a whopping 461,538 units. Meanwhile, the Tesla Model S/X only contributed about 22,969, excluding some Cybertruck deliveries.
However, it is worth noting that Tesla produced a total of 494,989 electric vehicles in the same period.
As for the full year, Tesla’s production hit 1,845,985 units. Of that total, deliveries recorded 1,808,581 units. As expected, the popular Tesla Model 3 and Y still dominated the brand’s sales.
Tesla shares have declined by approximately 16% this year to date as of Wednesday’s close, following a more than twofold growth in 2023.
You can access Tesla’s full Q4 and FY 2023 Earnings Report here.
