By Senad Karaahmetovic
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced today it delivered 422,875 electric vehicle (EV) units in the first quarter of 2023, missing Street expectations for 432,000 deliveries.
The company said it produced 440,808 EVs in Q1.
For the same period last year, Tesla delivered 310,000 EV units and a record 405,278 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2022.
In 2022, vehicle deliveries rose 40% year-over-year to 1.31 million. For this year, analysts expect Tesla to deliver ~1.8M EVs.
Several analysts weighed in on Tesla ahead of the Q1 deliveries report. Most notably, CFRA analysts upgraded Tesla to Strong Buy from Buy with a price target of $275 per share.
“We think TSLA's production likely benefited from easing chip shortages and supply chain issues and the ongoing ramp-up of the Austin and Berlin factories,” analysts wrote in a note.
On the other hand, Deutsche Bank analysts cut Q1 estimates for Tesla to EPS of $0.69, which is below Street’s $0.87.
“Q1 is positioned to be the trough for the year, and while management had indicated that it would still see auto GM (ex-credit, including FSD) remain in the 20%+ range at any single quarter in the year, much of this will depend on the volume/pricing dynamics and macro conditions throughout the year which in of itself is challenging to predict,” analysts said last week.
Tesla stock price closed at $207.46 on Friday to hit a new 4-week high. Shares are up 68.4% year-to-date (YTD).