Tesla’s stock price tumbled again as quarterly revenues showed a lack of growth and competitiveness.
Tesla posted worse-than-expected quarterly and annual revenues on Wednesday, as the stock price tumbled over 4% in extended trading. Tesla CEO Elon Musk had his scheduled call with investors, saying the company is currently between “two growth waves”.
Earnings-per-share came in at 71 cents instead of the 74 cents expected. Quarterly revenues amounted to $25.17 billion, less than the $25.60 billion forecast.
2023 was a year of constant disappointment for Tesla investors. The company’s sales still rely on pre-COVID models, the Cybertruck has been a total failure so far. Announced in 2019, Tesla began production only in November 2023 but said lines were so complex it could only release 125,000 models per year. So far, pre-orders of the vehicle exceed 1 million units.
If Tesla fails to increase productivity, the Cybertruck will take 8 years to complete all pre-orders. Therefore, it will be fully available on the free market only in 2032, when the EV landscape is likely to be completely different than it is now.
In the last quarter of 2023, Tesla was passed by Chinese giant BYD as the world’s largest seller of electric vehicles. BYD is planning to expand its operations in North America and extend its current market in Europe.
New products?
What Tesla currently needs is a new cutting-edge product, able to pierce the market the same way Model Y did. Elon Musk announced to investors that a “next-generation vehicle” is currently in the works at Tesla, and will be announced soon.
At the latest Tesla event, Musk teased customers by showing the silhouette of a new car. At the call, Musk said production will begin in Texas in 2025, but that investors should take this information “with a grain of salt”.
Meanwhile, Tesla is also working on Optimus, a humanoid robot that Musk said will be the most advanced in the world. During the call, he signaled that Optimus should begin production already in 2024 and that it “has the potential to far exceed the value of everything else combined” for the company.
According to Musk, Optimus will not be a different product from electric vehicles, which he described as “robots on wheels”.
Elon Musk is known for his flamboyant promises and usually weak deliveries. Tesla is quickly losing ground in the EV market, which on the contrary is expanding its offer and increasing competition.
Tesla might not be capable of catching up again, not unless it consolidates the current production capabilities and focuses on delivering new models.
