The Driving Force Behind Tesla’s Q2 Report

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) released second quarter financial results after markets closed Wednesday. The company reported a net loss of $3.06 per share on $4.00 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates that called for a net loss of $2.92 per share and $3.92 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $1.33 in EPS and $2.79 billion in revenue.

During the month of July, Tesla noted repeated weekly production of approximately 5,000 Model 3 cars multiple times while also producing 2,000 Model S and Model X per week. Overall the company produced 53,339 vehicles in Q2 and delivered 22,319 Model S and Model X vehicles and 18,449 Model 3 vehicles, totaling 40,768 deliveries.

At the end of July, Gigafactory 1 battery production reached an annualized run rate of roughly 20 GWh, making it the highest-volume battery plant in the world by a significant margin. Consequently, Tesla currently produces more batteries in terms of kWh than all other carmakers combined.

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Looking ahead to the third quarter, the company expects to produce 50,000 to 55,000 Model 3 vehicles, an increase of 75% to 92% from the previous quarter. Model 3 gross margin is expected to grow significantly to approximately 15% in Q3 and to approximately 20% in Q4 predominantly due to continued reduction in manufacturing costs and to some extent an improving mix.

There are consensus estimates calling for a net loss of $0.89 per share and $5.8 billion in revenue for the coming quarter.

Elon Musk, Chairman and CEO, commented:

It’s fair to say that no production ramp of any other product has been as closely watched and debated as that of Model 3. We are proud of our team for producing roughly 7,000 Model 3, Model S and Model X vehicles during the last week of June. We also want to thank all of our reservation holders who have waited patiently and who have been supportive of our mission. While we faced multiple obstacles during this ramp, our team worked hard to find solutions, and in the end, it was all worth it: A total vehicle output of 7,000 vehicles per week, or 350,000 per year, should enable Tesla to become sustainably profitable for the first time in our history – and we expect to grow our production rate further in Q3.

Shares of Tesla closed up about 1% at $300.84, with a consensus analyst price target of $294.79 and a 52-week range of $244.59 to $389.61. Following the announcement, the stock was up 2% at $306.93 in the after-hours session.

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