Tesla reported slower third quarter sales that fell short of Wall Street forecasts.
The world’s largest electric car maker reported it delivered 435,000 vehicles in the period. That’s down 7% from the 466,000 deliveries in the second quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had expected sales to come in at 461,000, just short of second quarter numbers.
Tesla said it should still be able to hit its target of full-year sales of 1.8 million vehicles, but to do so it would have to achieve about a 9% increase in sales in the final three months of the year compared to the just completed quarter.
“In a nutshell, there was nothing to write home about in these numbers and the Street will be left wanting more,” wrote tech analyst Dan Ives in a note about the Tesla sales report early Monday, though he remains bullish on the stock.
The company also had warned that summer shutdowns for various upgrades could affect its factory output, and that was apparently the case, as production fell even more than sales, dropping 10% compared to the second quarter.
But for the first time since the first three months of 2022, the company delivered more vehicles than it produced. Wall Street analysts who are bearish on Tesla have been pointing to the sales falling short of production in the previous five quarters, as a sign of weakening demand for Tesla’s cars.
Tesla, the most profitable automaker, has been cutting prices to spur greater demand for its cars and continue to hit aggressive growth rates. CEO Elon Musk has said that the price cuts are partly driven by macroeconomic factors, such as rising interest rates.
But with increased competition from electric vehicle offerings of established automakers, the company has been willing to report somewhat thinner profit margins in order in order to spur more demand. The company also has relatively new factories in Germany and Texas continuing to ramp up production. So continued strong demand is needed to move the increasing output of those factories.
Shares of Tesla were little changed in morning trading on the sales news, after opening down 2%.
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