Tesla Reports Its Quarterly Results

Tesla is at the forefront of the Electric Vehicle (EVs) revolution, though its activities are not restricted to electric cars manufacturing, as they have expanded to infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products, such as batteries and solar panels.

It was founded in California in 2003, having the prolific Elon Musk at its helm since 2008. The company started trading publicly on the Nasdaq in June 2010 and 10 years later - in December 2020 - it was included in the S&P 500.

The company will report its Q3 2021 financial results on Wednesday October 20th after market close.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Revenues are forecasted at $13.34 billion against $8.771 billion in the same period in 2020 and $11.958 billion in the second quarter of the current year.

Earnings are projected at $1.44/share (non-GAAP) compared to $0.76 a year ago and $1.45 during the previous quarter of the current year.

Revenue and EPS forecast were extracted from investing.com earnings calendar.

The company has already announced the delivery of 241,300 vehicles for the third quarter of the year, setting new record highs and staying above 200K mark, which it surpassed for the first time in Q2 2021. Tesla noted that this figure "should be viewed as slightly conservative" and that "final numbers could vary by up to 0.5% or more".

The numbers are impressive given the global chip shortages that have plagued many automakers and show that Tesla has probably been impacted less than competitors, but in any case we will be looking for any fresh commentary around the situation.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Tesla's main production facility is located in California and a second one is near completion in Texas, while it also owns a factory in Shanghai, which has become its primary vehicle export hub.

Furthermore, the firm is constructing its second factory outside the US in Germany and held an on-site event a few days back, during which Elon Musk said he aims to start vehicle production in November or December. He noticed though, that it will take longer to reach volume production than it took to build the factory.

The company hosted its 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on October 7th, which also provided some eye-catching news. Specifically, the event was presented from Tesla's Gigafactory in Austin, Texas and its CEO announced that this is now Tesla's new headquarters, relocating from Palo Alto, California.

This change was not a shocker, as it comes after Musk's "clashes" with the Californian government and a number of press releases that referenced the new headquarters at their beginning. Despite that, the firm intends to retain and expand its presence and activities in the US's most populous state.

Back in June, it had unveiled the updated version of the Model S - named "Plaid" - and claimed that it is the quickest accelerating electric car in production, with 0-60 mph advertised at 1.99 seconds. A few months later, in September, a Model S Plaid lapped the historic Nürburgring racetrack in 7:35.579, setting the record for production electric cars.

Back in late August, the firm hosted its AI Day, where it showcased its progress on self-driving and a humanoid robot.

INCREASING COMPETITION

Tesla is by far ahead of other EV makers, but has been facing increased competition mainly from China, with Nio (NIO.us) and XPeng Auto (XPEV.us) being two of the most prominent start-ups. Both firms also posted record deliveries in Q3 (24,439 & 25,666 respectively), having also achieved some other notable milestones this year.

XPeng Motors announced that on October 11th, the 100,000th vehicle rolled off its production line - an achievement accomplished in around six years since it was founded. Nio Inc, which was founded in 2014, had previously hit the 100K mark back in April of 2021.
One of the hottest startups in the EV arena that went public via SPAC a few months back, Lucid (LCID.us), is seen by some as the most promising candidate to challenge Tesla's reign.

Lucid has not yet delivered any cars, but announced a few weeks ago that it will begin doing so in late October and that it had more than 13,000 reservations. Earlier in September its Air Dream Edition Range, received an official EPA rating of 520 miles of range, making it the longest-range electric vehicle ever rated by the US agency.

STOCK MOVEMENT

The earnings report comes after a solid third quarter for TSLA.us, during which it gained nearly 15% and closed September above $775. It runs its 5th straight profitable week, closing in onthe January record high (900.66), but also towards overbought territory as shown by the Relative Strenght Index (RSI).