Tesla Inc. reported a sixth straight quarter of earnings and late Wednesday sales, but earnings fell below Wall Street expectations and stocks fell a whopping 7% in non-business hours trading.
Tesla TSLA,
said it made $ 270 million, or 24 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared to earnings of $ 105 million, or 11 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted for one-off items, the Silicon Valley automaker earned 80 cents a share.
Sales were up 46% to $ 10.74 billion from $ 7.38 billion a year ago, thanks in part to “substantial growth” in deliveries, the company said.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of $ 1.02 per share on revenue of $ 10.47 billion.
The average selling price of its vehicles fell 11% year-on-year as the mix continued to shift towards the cheaper Model 3 and Model Y of its luxury Model S and Model X vehicles, the company said in a letter to shareholders.
Tesla is also shying away from giving a hard number sales advice. The company said it had “simplified our approach to guidance for 2021” to focus on long-term goals.
Tesla plans to grow production capacity “as soon as possible” and expects an average annual growth of 50% in car deliveries, the proxy for sales, over a “multi-year horizon”.
“In some years we can grow faster, which we expect to be the case in 2021,” he said.
A growth of 50% would mean the delivery of about 750,000 vehicles this year, which is comparable to just under 500,000 cars delivered in 2020, a year marred by factory shutdowns and delays caused by the pandemic.
FactSet analysts surveyed expect to deliver approximately 800,000 vehicles this year.
The company said it remained on track to begin vehicle production at its factories in Germany and Texas this year, with its own battery cells. It is also on track to begin sales of its commercial truck, the Semi, by the end of the year.
Tesla shares are up nearly 700% in the past 12 months, compared to a gain of about 17% for the S&P 500 index SPX,
Earlier this year, the stock went on its longest winning run ever.