Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is set to report its first-quarter earnings today after the closing bell. The automaker delivered a record number of vehicles during the quarter, smashing Wall Street estimates in the process. As a result, analysts are expecting strong earnings and revenue numbers tonight.
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Expectations for Tesla's earnings
Wall Street expects Tesla to report non-GAAP earnings of 79 cents per share, which would be a 216% year-over-year increase from the 23 cents per share it reported in the year-ago quarter. Estimates range from 75 cents to 85 cents per share from the buy-side. In the fourth quarter, the automaker reported 80 cents per share in earnings.
Consensus estimates for sales call for $10.29 billion, which would be a 72% year-over-year increase. Other consensus numbers range from $10.5 billion to $10.7 billion in sales.
Tesla delivered 184,800 vehicles during the first quarter, including 182,780 Model 3s and Model Ys and 2,020 Model Ss and Model Xs. The delivery total represented an increase of 109% year over year and 2.2% sequentially. Tesla produced 180,338 vehicles during the first quarter.
What else to watch for in Tesla's earnings
One thing that analysts will be watching in the earnings report is the automaker's gross margin, which fell from 27.7% in the third quarter to 24.1% in the fourth. Tesla has touted its gross margin as one of the highest in the auto industry, if not the highest.
Bears will be paying attention to the sale of regulatory credits, which have played an important role in the automaker's earnings reports in the past. In fact, bears have pointed out that without the sale of regulatory credits, Tesla would not have been profitable in the previous fiscal year. Still, regulatory credits only amounted to 4.2% of the automaker's fourth-quarter revenue.
Analysts will also be watching for guidance from Tesla, as it hasn't said yet now many vehicles it expects to deliver this year. Last year, the company came up just shy of 500,000 deliveries, a 36% year-over-year increase. CEO Elon Musk and Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn have said that Tesla could grow its deliveries by 50% or more this year.
Other things to watch for include an update on deliveries of the refreshed Model S and Model X, which have been delayed. We could also hear more about progress on Gigafactory Texas and Gigafactory Berlin and the new 4680 battery cell.
Tesla is part of the Entrepreneur Index, which tracks 60 of the largest publicly traded companies managed by their founders or their founders' families.
