Tesla announced his first earnings report since joining the S & P 500 on January 28th. Last quarter, Tesla achieved significant growth in production and sales, profits and cash flow, and made a profit for six consecutive quarters.
Revenue increased by 29% in 2020
In the last quarter of last year, Tesla's revenue reached US $10.774 billion, up 46% compared with the same period of the previous year, exceeding market expectations of US $10.4 billion; gross profit was US $2.066 billion, an increase of 49% over the same period last year; adjusted profit before interest and tax was US $1.85 billion, an increase of 57% over the same period last year; and net profit belonging to common shareholders was US $270 million, up 157% from the same period last year. Earnings per share attributed to ordinary shareholders were 24 cents, up 118 per cent from a year earlier, while free cash flow was $1.868 billion, up 84 per cent from a year earlier.
Of this total, the quarterly revenue of the automotive business was $9.314 billion, up 46 per cent from a year earlier; the gross profit of the automotive business was $2.244 billion, up 56 per cent from a year earlier; and the gross profit margin was 24.1 per cent. Of this total, the sale of regulatory points (regulatory credits) brought Tesla $401 million in operating income, up from $397 million in the previous quarter and a year-on-year increase of 202 per cent.
For the whole of 2020, Tesla's revenue reached $31.536 billion, up 29% from the previous year; gross profit was $6.63 billion, up 63% over the same period last year; adjusted profit before interest and tax was $5.817 billion, an increase of 95% over the same period last year; net profit attributable to common shareholders was $721 million, compared with a loss of $862 million the previous year. Earnings per share attributable to ordinary shareholders were 64 cents, compared with a loss of 98 cents the previous year, while free cash flow was $2.786 billion, up 158 per cent from a year earlier.
Tesla's auto business had full-year revenue of $27.236 billion, up 31 per cent from a year earlier; gross profit of the car business was $6.977 billion, up 58 per cent from a year earlier; and gross profit margin was 25.6 per cent. Of this total, the sale of regulatory points generated $1.58 billion in revenue for Tesla, up 166 per cent from a year earlier.
In 2020, Tesla produced a total of 509737 new cars and delivered 499550. In December last year, mass production of Tesla Model Y was launched at the Shanghai Super Factory.
Blurred expectations led to a fall in stock prices
After Tesla's substantial growth in 2020, investors and analysts are eager to know Tesla's growth rate, including when autopilot will generate more revenue, but there are few specific answers.
With regard to the performance forecast for 2021, Tesla pointed out in a statement that considering that a number of major projects are under way, Tesla only gave a "brief explanation" of the 2021 forecast to allow the team to focus on achieving long-term goals.
Tesla expects operating profit margins to continue to grow and to reach the industry-leading level with capacity expansion and localization plans going smoothly. In addition, Tesla said there is enough cash to support product planning, long-term capacity expansion plans and other expenses.
In terms of products and plants, Tesla's Berlin plant and the new Texas plant will start delivering vehicles in 2021, Tesla's Shanghai plant will continue to expand, Tesla's Semi, will be delivered in 2021 and mass production of Cybertruck will begin in 2022.
Tesla's share price fell 5 per cent because of the vague 2021 forecast and lower-than-Wall Street expectations for fourth-quarter profits.
Investors had hoped that Tesla's delivery volume would increase significantly from 500000 vehicles in 2020, but Tesla did not provide a specific delivery target, saying only that vehicle delivery would grow at an average annual rate of 50% in the next few years. Some years may grow faster, such as 2021, and the rate of increase mainly depends on factory capacity, operational efficiency and the stability of the supply chain.
At an earnings call in the third quarter of last year, analysts asked Mr Musk whether Tesla planned to increase delivery by 840000 to 1 million vehicles in 2021 based on the plant's current maximum capacity. Mr Musk said the goal was "very close", while another Tesla executive said at the time that the company would provide delivery expectations in the next quarter.
As for the shortage of chips, which is currently a headache for the auto industry, Tesla's chief financial officer, Zachary Kirkhorn, said the company was "working very hard to deal with it", but did not elaborate.
