Tesla share price: 3 things we learnt from Q1 results
The car company's stock drops after a lackluster Q1 earnings report.
Tesla share price is down after a worse-than-expected Q1 revenue report. Three main facts stood out after Tesla’s Q1 earnings report.
Tesla reported large losses
Tesla’s Q1 revenue was $4.54 billion, less than the projected $5.19 billion. Tesla’s Q1 profits dropped after chief executive officer, Elon Musk, reported that the company posted a $700 million loss. As a result of Tesla’s staggering losses, Musk said he is open to raising capital to pay off the corporation’s remaining $180 million in debt.
‘There’s merit to the idea of raising capital at this point. This is probably about the right timing,’ said Musk.
Piper Jaffray analyst, Alexander Potter, said a number of factors affected Tesla’s Q1 earnings.
‘First-quarter[profits] suffered from a particularly nasty combination of headwinds, including seasonality, a big buildup of non-U.S. deliveries (negative for logistics costs and working capital), as well as the expiration of tax incentives in the United States,’ said Potter.
Tesla car sales were disappointing
Tesla’s Q1 earnings drop was likely caused by lackluster sales of the company’s vehicles. Though sales increased overall to $3.72 billion, they still lagged behind Q4 2018 purchases.
Even though Tesla announced an affordable new vehicle, the Model 3, the car’s price increased, it shipped later than expected, and isn’t available for sale online as earlier promised.
Despite the slow sales for the cars, Musk said that Tesla will introduce self-driving ‘robotaxis’ in 2020. The autonomous vehicles would compete with other ridesharing cars from Uber or Lyft.
‘I feel very confident predicting autonomous robotaxis for Tesla next year,’ said Musk.
Tesla will offer an insurance product
In addition to the robotaxis, Tesla said it will be offering an insurance product starting next month. Though Musk gave few details about the product, Musk said that the product will be based on its current Autopilot system that assists drivers. The Autopilot program’s safety information is already shares with insurance company to set rates.
‘As we launch our own insurance product next month, we will certainly incorporate that information into the insurance rates,’ said Musk.
Tesla’s share price likely tumbled after the discouraging news about its car sales and debt. Tesla’s Q1 earnings will likely tell investors that Tesla had a challenging Q1 revenue report.
This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients.
CFDs are a leveraged products. CFD trading may not be suitable for everyone and can result in losses that exceed your initial deposit, so please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.
Act on stock opportunities today
Go long or short on thousands of international stocks with CFDs.
- Get full exposure for a comparatively small deposit
- Trade on spreads from just 0.1%
- Get greater order book visibility with direct market access
See opportunity on a stock?
Try a risk-free trade in your demo account, and see whether you’re on to something.
- Log in to your demo
- Try a risk-free trade
- See whether your hunch pays off
See opportunity on a stock?
Don’t miss your chance – upgrade to a live account to take advantage.
- Trade a huge range of popular stocks
- Analyse and deal seamlessly on fast, intuitive charts
- See and react to breaking news in-platform
See opportunity on a stock?
Don’t miss your chance. Log in to take advantage while conditions prevail.
Live prices on most popular markets
- Forex
- Shares
- Indices
Prices above are subject to our website terms and agreements. Prices are indicative only. All shares prices are delayed by at least 15 mins.