FEATURE
Tesla’s undoubted progress still unlikely to change the minds of fans or sceptics Electric carmaker remains a marmite stock to most – you either love it or hate it
E
lon Musk has a lot on his plate these days. What with tangling with Twitter (TWTR:NYSE) over spambots, sending Starlink satellites into space and crusading on free speech. Yet the industrious entrepreneur’s primary passion project remains Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ), and building it into the world’s most important carmaker. Millions of investors have been lured into the Tesla growth story by the billionaire’s sheer chutzpah, and they have largely been rewarded for their loyalty, with the share price having grown 10-fold in five years. Yet, like so many other growth companies, the stock has struggled this year as investors weigh the various impacts of soaring inflation, clogged supply chains, war in Ukraine and slowly economies worldwide.
Tesla vehicle deliveries (thousands) 2022 Q2
254.7
2022 Q1
310.05
2021 Q4
308.6
2021 Q3
241.3
2021 Q2
201.25
2021 Q1
184.8
2020 Q4
180.6
2020 Q3
139.3
2020 Q2
90.7
2020 Q1
88.4
2019 Q4
112
2019 Q3
97
2019 Q2
95.2
2019 Q1
63
Chart: Shares magazine • Source: Tesla, Statista
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| SHARES | 28 July 2022
The shares have lost 33% in 2022 to date. So where do investors stand now, in the wake of last week’s (20 July) second quarter earnings? As usual, there’s lots to unpack, not least the sideshow that came after Tesla said it had sold $936 million worth of bitcoin, about 75% of its holding in the cryptocurrency, to shore up liquidity concerns. What the conference call did show is that Musk remains as finely attuned to Tesla’s travails as ever. He dived deep into manufacturing minutiae, supply chain snarl-ups, and vehicle demand, shying away from pontificating about semi-distant technologies (AI-powered robots, robotaxis et al) as he has done in the past. Sticking to the script is not something investors have come to expect from Musk but a more prosaic presentation was no bad thing. Despite numerous hurdles that have included Covid shutdowns at its Shanghai plant, global economic uncertainty and the constant hoopla that surrounds Musk, the world’s most valuable car company reported another solid quarter. SECOND QUARTER FORECASTS BEATEN Tesla topped second-quarter revenue and earnings estimates with $2.27 EPS (earnings per share) versus a $1.81 forecast, on revenue of $16.93 billion, more than $180 million more than Wall Street expected. Vehicle deliveries
