Tesla (TSLA) late Wednesday reported fourth-quarter results that were below Wall Street’s estimates as its margin nearly halved year over year while the electric vehicle manufacturer said volume growth this year will likely trail the rate achieved in 2023.
Revenue increased 3% year over year to $25.17 billion but trailed the consensus on Capital IQ for $25.76 billion. Tesla reported adjusted per-share earnings of $0.71, down from $1.19 a year earlier and below the Street’s view of $0.74. The stock was down 3.4% in after-hours trade.
The company said in a shareholder deck that sales benefited from higher deliveries and foreign exchange gains but were weighed down by lower average selling prices, which also hurt margins. Operating margin shrank by 784 basis points year over year to 8.2% amid costs associated with Cybertruck’s production ramp and other expenses,Tesla said.
“Our team remains focused on growing our output, investing in our future growth and finding additional cost efficiencies in 2024,” the company said.
In 2023, Tesla’s production grew 35% year over year to a total of 1.85 million vehicles, compared with its “around 1.8 million” target outlined in October. It delivered 1.81 million units last year, up 38%.
The company said its vehicle volume growth rate in 2024 “may be notably lower” than that of 2023 as it seeks to launch “the next-generation vehicle at Gigafactory Texas.” Tesla said it wants to launch the next-gen platform as quickly as possible, adding that it would “revolutionize how vehicles are manufactured.”
Earlier this month, Tesla reported fourth-quarter deliveries of 484,507 that advanced 20% year on year and surpassed analysts’ estimates. It produced 494,989 vehicles during the quarter, also above the forecast on Visible Alpha at the time.
“In 2024, the growth rate of deployments and revenue in our energy storage business should outpace the automotive business,” the company said late Wednesday.