Tesla, a U.S. electric car maker, showed sluggish performance in the fourth quarter of last year, falling below experts’ expectations.
According to CNBC on the 24th (local time), Tesla announced in its fourth-quarter earnings announcement last year that its revenue was $25.17 billion and its earnings per share (EPS) was 0.71 months.
The expert estimate compiled by market information company LSEG was $25.6 billion in revenue and $0.74 in earnings per share.
Revenue was only 3% higher than $24.3 billion in the same period last year. The operating margin was 8.2%, down by half from 16% in the same period last year.
CNBC said the sluggish performance by Tesla was due to a sharp cut in prices by electric car makers around the world in the second half of last year, which led to a drop in average sales prices.
Regarding this year’s outlook, Tesla also said, “As we are working to launch next-generation vehicles at the Texas Gigafactory, this year’s vehicle production growth may be noticeably lower than last year’s growth rate.”
Tesla also performed worse than expected in the third quarter of last year.
However, while other companies had difficulty producing and selling electric vehicles last year, Tesla delivered 484,507 units in the fourth quarter of last year and more than 1.8 million units in total last year.
In particular, Tesla started selling its first electric pickup truck, Cybertruck, in the fourth quarter of last year. In the second half of last year, Tesla announced that it will be able to produce 125,000 Cybertrucks annually.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said about Cybertruck, “It’s the best product and leader ever,” adding, “We believe it delivers about 250,000 Cybertrucks annually.”
Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock price fell 0.63% from the previous trading day in the New York Stock Exchange, and after the market closed, it fell nearly 6% in after-hours trading. l
