Tesla Q3 revenue of $23.35 billion, net profit of $1.85 billion decreased by 44% year-on-year

On October 19th, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla announced its third quarter financial report for 2023 after hours local time on Wednesday. According to the financial report, Tesla's revenue in the third quarter was $23

On October 19th, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla announced its third quarter financial report for 2023 after hours local time on Wednesday. According to the financial report, Tesla's revenue in the third quarter was $23.35 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%, lower than the average analyst expectation of $24.1 billion. The net profit was 1.853 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 44%; Adjusted earnings per share were $0.66, lower than the average analyst expectation of $0.73.

Compared to this, Tesla's revenue in the second quarter of 2023 was $24.927 billion, with a net profit of $2.703 billion. Last year, Tesla's revenue was $21.454 billion and net profit was $3.292 billion.

Tesla's stock fell 4.78% on the same day and closed at $242.68 per share.

By business division, Tesla's core automotive business revenue in the second quarter was $19.625 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5%. The revenue of energy production and storage business was 1.559 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 40%. Tesla's "Services and Other" business, including vehicle maintenance, had revenue of $2.166 billion, a year-on-year increase of 32%.

In Tesla's automotive business revenue, the revenue from selling carbon emission points increased to $554 million in the third quarter, up from $282 million in the previous quarter and $286 million in the same period last year.

In the third quarter, Tesla's total gross profit was $4.178 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 22%. The operating gross profit margin was 7.6%, a significant decrease from 17.2% in the same period last year.

Tesla's total gross profit in the third quarter decreased by 22% year-on-year, slightly lower than analysts' expectations. This is because the company has significantly reduced prices to stimulate demand in the face of rising interest rates. Tesla's average bicycle revenue in the third quarter decreased by nearly 11% compared to the same period last year.

Tesla announced a gross profit margin of 17.9% in the third quarter, down from 18.2% in the second quarter of this year and 25.1% in the same period last year. Although the cost of raw materials for bicycles decreased by about $2000 in the third quarter, the gross profit margin still decreased.

Since January this year, Tesla has been selling electric vehicles through significant price reductions and discounts, with price reductions of over 6% for each model in the third quarter. Although these efforts boosted car sales in the first half of the year, the factory restructuring plan in preparation for the production of new models affected Tesla's delivery of electric vehicles between July and September this year.

Tesla stated in its financial report, "In the third quarter, our bicycle sales costs decreased to approximately $37500. Although the production costs of the new factory are still higher than those of the old factory, we have implemented necessary upgrades in the third quarter to further reduce bicycle costs

Earlier this month, Tesla announced a 7% year-on-year decrease in electric vehicle deliveries in the third quarter. But on Wednesday, Tesla maintained its annual production target of 1.8 million vehicles, indicating that discounted sales are boosting demand. Some analysts suggest that with a general slowdown in demand for electric vehicles, Tesla may need to continue to lower prices in order to achieve its delivery targets for this year.

Tesla's third quarter revenue and profit also did not meet analysts' expectations. The company stated that its profit margin is affected by insufficient utilization of new factories, increased operating expenses for the upcoming Cybertruck electric pickup truck, and increasing expenses for artificial intelligence and other projects.

Tesla stated that it has started trial production of Cybertruck electric pickup trucks at a super factory in Texas, USA, with the first batch of vehicles scheduled for delivery on November 30th this year. The Texas factory Cybertruck currently has an annual production capacity of 125000 vehicles.

Investors and analysts predict that Tesla will need to deliver 476000 vehicles in the fourth quarter to meet its annual target, so the company will continue to lower prices.

Nevertheless, Tesla's stock price has more than doubled this year as investors believe the company will perform better than its competitors in an uncertain economic environment, and in the long run, autonomous driving software can also boost the company's profit margin.

Tesla stated that the energy and service businesses that sell solar panels and energy storage batteries have become important contributors to the company's profits, with a total gross profit of over $500 million for these two types of businesses this quarter.

In terms of energy business, Tesla deployed a 3653 megawatt hour energy storage system in the third quarter, an increase of 90% compared to the same period last year, but the total number of solar installations decreased by 48% year-on-year to 49 megawatts.

Tesla's research and development expenses in the third quarter were $1.16 billion, up from $733 million in the same period last year. Tesla stated that "the scale of artificial intelligence training computing has been more than doubled to adapt to the growing dataset and Optimus robot project

Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously revealed that the company is using end-to-end machine learning algorithms to rewrite the driving assistance system FSDBeta.

In the third quarter, Zachary Kirkhorn resigned from his position as Tesla's Chief Financial Officer, and Vaibhav Taneja, the company's Chief Accounting Officer, currently holds this position.

In the third quarter, Tesla began selling the upgraded version of Model 3, with controversy surrounding the adjustment of the turn signal button light function. The updated version of the Model 3 currently sold in the Chinese and EU markets indicates that the vehicle is about to change lanes or turn by touching a button on the steering wheel, rather than using the joystick on the left side of the steering wheel. Tesla has also lowered the price of the advanced driving assistance system FSDBeta. Tesla reminds customers that before the company can achieve autonomous vehicles, it is necessary to always maintain attention and be prepared to intervene in steering or braking. (Chen Chen)