Tesla Motors and First Solar are set to release their next earnings report in just a matter of hours. Wall Street expects a non-GAAP loss of 53 cents per share on $1.5 billion in sales for Tesla, while analysts expect First Solar to post adjusted earnings of 55 cents per share on $862.7 million in revenue.
Tesla’s losses expected to widen
In last year’s second quarter, Tesla reported losses of 48 cents per share, which means the automaker’s losses are expected to widen year over year. It has been investing heavily on infrastructure and now wants to merge with another company that’s in the red—SolarCity. The question is getting to be how long investors will be happy to wait for results from all this spending. Thus far, Tesla’s ability to translate its ambitions into successful mass production and much more revenue is still unproven.
Clement Thibault, senior analyst at Investing.com, noted: “Its projects, such as stopping climate change and self-driving cars, are certainly romantic, but Musk might just be a true visionary. Unfortunately, ambitious ideas aren’t always enough. It looks like Musk has decided to go big from the outset rather than wait for Tesla to grow at the pace that demand—and more importantly revenues—would dictate.”
He added that the automaker’s current share price is “based solely on expectations” and that he believes that it is currently priced for perfection even though “there’s no real proof” that all those dreams will ever come true.
We already know that Tesla missed its own guidance for deliveries—again—with 14,370 vehicles delivered during the second quarter. Management had expected to deliver 17,000 vehicles, however, and they played up the meaningful number of vehicles that were in transit at the end of the quarter.
Shares of Tesla slipped by as much as 0.41% to $226.22 in afternoon trades ahead of tonight’s print.
First Solar one of a few successful solar firms
Interestingly, Estimize’s estimates for First Solar’s second quarter earnings are much higher at 71 cents per share in earnings and $908.03 million in sales. The solar industry as a whole has been struggling, but many investors see the company as one of the few winners in a difficult market. The company has beat estimates for both the top and bottom lines for the last four quarters, outperforming the rest of the industry, although this has caused the bar to be set high.
First Solar is one of very few solar companies that hasn’t been consistently posting quarterly losses, Estimize notes. SolarCity has been especially struggling and said this week that bookings were low during the second quarter, leading management to cut their outlook for megawatts installed for this year. First Solar management also warned on their last earnings call that earnings would be lower in the first half of the year as they said the company was in a transitional phase and thus sales growth could be limited. The company missed sales estimates in the first quarter, which sent its stock plunging.
Shares of First Solar surged ahead of tonight’s earnings report, climbing by as much as 2.76% to $49.08.
