Tesla Stock Hit On First Decline In Annual Deliveries

(RTTNews) - Shares of Tesla, Inc. fell around 6.1 percent on Thursday's regular trading after the luxury electric vehicle maker reported a decline in annual deliveries for the first time. The company also reported weak production in the year and in the fourth quarter, while quarterly sales were higher.

On the Nasdaq, Tesla stock moved 1.1 percent higher in the extended trading on Thursday, and is currently up 0.4 percent in the pre-market activity, at $380.88.

While announcing positive third-quarter results in late October, Tesla had projected slight growth in vehicle deliveries in 2024, despite ongoing macroeconomic conditions. Energy storage deployments were also expected to be more than double year-over-year in 2024.

Meanwhile, the company has been facing stiff competition from domestic automakers, including General Motors, Ford and Rivian, as well as Chinese and European auto majors.

In the fourth quarter, the automaker produced 459,445 vehicles, lower than about 495,000 vehicles in the same quarter a year ago. The deliveries were 495,570 vehicles, while last year's deliveries were over 484,000 vehicles.

Model 3/Y production was 436,718 vehicles and its deliveries were 471,930 vehicles. Other models' production was 22,727 vehicles and deliveries were 23,640 vehicles.

The company also deployed 11.0 GWh of energy storage products in the quarter. It was a record for both deliveries and deployments, the firm noted.

In its preceding third quarter, the company produced approximately 470,000 vehicles, delivered approximately 463,000 vehicles and deployed 6.9 GWh of energy storage products.

Total annual production was 1.773 million vehicles, and deliveries were 1.789 million vehicles. In 2023, production was 1.85 million and vehicle deliveries were 1.81 million.

In the year, production of Model 3/Y was 1.679 million, and its deliveries were 1.704 million. Other Models' production was 94,105 vehicles and their deliveries were 85,133 vehicles.

The company reported deployment of 31.4 GWh of energy storage products during 2024.

In its latest third quarter, Tesla had reported higher profit, above market estimates, as revenues grew 7.8 percent, benefited by significant volume growth. Meanwhile, the company experienced a reduction in average selling prices or ASPs primarily hurt by financing incentives.

During its earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had stated that the firm achieved record deliveries in the quarter at a time when the industry was seeing year-over-year declines in order volumes. Meanwhile, Tesla had warned that sustaining positive margins in the fourth quarter will be challenging, given the current economic environment.

Tesla, which generates most of its profit from EVs, has ventured into humanoid robotics, chip development and Cybercab robotaxi, which is expected reaching volume production in fiscal 2026. The company reportedly aims for at least 2 million robotaxi units a year, maybe 4 million eventually.

Tesla shares had been trending higher especially after Donald Trump's presidential win and on Tesla's founder and CEO Musk's association in the election process.

During his victory speech, Trump called the Tesla, X, and SpaceX boss, who was his mega-donor during the run up to election, a "new star" of the Republican Party. Trump also had selected Musk, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, to jointly lead a new Department of Government Efficiency in his upcoming administration.