Posted on 04/21/2022 12:10:59 PM PDT by Red Badger
Tesla reported Wednesday that its first-quarter net earnings were over seven times greater than a year ago, powered by strong sales despite global supply chain kinks and pandemic-related production cuts in China.
The electric vehicle and solar panel company made $3.32 billion from January through March. Excluding special items such as stock-based compensation, the Austin, Texas, company made $3.22 per share. That soundly beat Wall Street estimates of $2.26 per share according to data provider FactSet.
Revenue for the quarter was $18.76 billion, also beating estimates of $17.85 billion. It was boosted by multiple price hikes meant to offset rising costs of lithium, nickel, cobalt and other precious metals used to make batteries.
It may be harder for Tesla to post similar numbers later this year. It’s facing costs from ramping up new factories in Germany and Texas, as well as rising commodity prices. It’s also looking at increased competition as startups and legacy automakers roll out more electric models.
The company said its weekly production for the quarter was strong, but a spike in COVID-19 cases brought the temporary shutdown of its factory in Shanghai, as well as part of Tesla’s supply chain.
“Although limited production (at the Shanghai factory) has recently restarted, we continue to monitor the situation closely,” the company said in a letter to investors.
CEO Elon Musk is expected to attend the company’s earnings conference call later Wednesday. He also could be asked about his $43 billion hostile bid to take over Twitter.
Tesla delivered a record 310,000 vehicles worldwide in the first quarter, up roughly 68% from the same period in 2021. The increase came even as Tesla battled a global shortage of computer chips and other parts like the rest of the global auto industry. Tesla delivered 185,000 vehicles in the first quarter of last year.
Tesla seems to have dealt with parts shortages better than the rest of the industry.
Last year the company delivered a record 936,000 vehicles, an 87% increase over 2020 numbers. The company said in February that it expects 50% annual growth in sales, meaning it expects about 1.4 million vehicles to be delivered this year.
I’m listening to Tesla - too late for love 🤪
Boise has it’s very own Tezla dealership now. It’s less than a mile from my office.
I see more and more of them on the road lately.
The people I know who have them seem to really like them.
They are all over the place here in NW Florida.................
“They are all over the place here in NW Florida...”
They are all over the place here in So Cal. Amazing.
Enormous disruption coming to auto industry. ICE vehicles and legacy auto are facing disaster. For better or worse, EV’s will quickly replace gas and diesel. Much quicker than most realize.
Yes, in ten years ICE will be as common as EV’s are now.
Gas statins will begin to disappear, replace by charging stations, only much larger areas will be necessary.
Entire industries will start to go bankrupt, STP, Lucas Oil, and any others that are dependent on ICE cars to sell their products, because they will be as obsolete as buggy whips in the 1920’s.
AutoZone, O’Reillys, Advance, Pep Boys, and others will all either have to merge or go bankrupt, since EV’s don’t have as many parts, and won’t require oil changes every 3000 miles.
Cars will last longer as batteries recharge life will be extended as fast as science can manage. Electric motors will too. And when a motor or battery does need to be replaced, it will be a 1 hour or less swap job, and you are ready to go.
Entire services not yet thought of will spring up like vaping stores and nail salons.
People have no idea how big a disruption there will be.
...............
I also remember logging onto the Internet for the first time around 1993 or so on a 2800 baud modem and being blown away by the fact that I could get things like current sports scores, weather observations in real time and communicate with people all over the world on bulletin boards. Ten years later, everybody had an internet connection and it was no big deal anymore.
I think we are at that stage with EVs. Ten years from now, we could very well have EVs outnumbering internal combustion cars and that will be the tipping point you speak of.
People laugh at EVs today because of their limited range, their long charging times, etc. But they forget how primitive the first cell phone were and how horrendous the internet was in the early days when you had those 2800 baud rate connections that took three minutes to load a JPEG. In fact, I remember when it was impolite to post images on Free Republic because it would take so long to download the threads!
Lastly I am not in favor of any government mandates with regard to EVs. Let the free market decide. It looks like entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are leading the way and that's the way it should be.
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