Tesla Stock All Over The Place After Beating Margin, EPS Expectations But Missing On Sales Heading into Tesla's Q3 earnings, sentiment is euphoric judging by the near-record stock price and the outlook for is pretty good because despite grappling with the chip shortage, surging input costs and the same shipping bottlenecks plaguing all global automakers right now, Tesla managed to set a record for vehicle deliveries in the third quarter: 241,300 cars. As a result, Wall Street is expecting a strong report, with consensus expecting an EPS of $1.67 a share on revenue of $13.9 billion. On the revenue side, expectations for 3Q rose just $131 million after the company topped the consensus delivery estimate by 20,000 units. At an average transaction price near $50,000 (2Q’s revenue per unit), those additional 20,000 units should have increased the revenue estimate by $1 billion. According to the math, the 20,000 units that topped consensus would sell for $6,550 each, he said. In other words, Bloomberg notes that consensus baked in a sequential revenue advance of $1.956 billion and a $198 million net-income gain, meaning the new revenue gets the same 10% net margin as the first $12 billion -- essentially ignoring fixed-cost absorption. Tesla bear Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research thinks that, based on Tesla’s comments about its ability to generate margin, those incremental units should be contributing to profit at about a 45% clip (it’s a tech company not an automaker, remember?). Even splitting the difference would move the net profit total by about $350 million more than where consensus stands, Bloomberg Intelligence's Tynan said. “This is another indication that analysts may have set a low profit bar for Tesla to clear and probably have ‘Another Home Run Quarter’ congratulatory notes pre-written,” he said. This is why a big focus for investors today will be Tesla’s gross margins, excluding sales of EV credits to other automakers. If they improved despite the chip crisis and port logistics headaches, and amid strong demand and pricing, that will be a big positive for Tesla. To be sure, much if not all of this is already in the price: Tesla’s stock surged about 11% since it announced its 3Q deliveries on Oct. 2. What impressed investors was the fact that they posted record sales when the rest of the industry saw huge drops - especially in September - because of the chip crisis. Why has Tesla been better at navigating the chip crisis? To be sure, Musk has been very vocal about what a struggle it is - not just chips, but also ships (port logistics) - he said earlier this month. According to Bloomberg, one factor may be that Tesla is big on vertical integration. Musk seeks control of the supply chain by doing as much as he can in-house. In 2019, Tesla dumped Nvidia and started designing its own self-driving chips, and partnered with Samsung to make them in its new home, Austin. Another advantage Tesla has is that it is still relatively small (for now). While it’s market cap trumps every global automaker, it basically has four vehicle models. General Motors has four brands, and over thirty models--and that’s just looking a their U.S. sales. Then there’s different trims on different models. For automakers, complexity can bring higher profits, but it can also cripple you in a crisis like we are currently going through. On the bearish side, questions as usual will swirl about the source of Tesla's profitability: as noted last quarter, virtually all of the company's profits in the past year have come from the sale of zero-emission regulatory credits which Tesla sells to other automakers (i.e., Jeep owner Stellantis). It basically equates to 100% margin and has been a significant contributor to net income. But, as Bloomberg notes, it can’t last forever. For those who need a refresh, this is how much TSLA has sold in regulatory credits: Q1 2020: $354MM Q2 2020: $428MM Q3 2020: $397MM Q4 2020: $401MM Q1 2021: $518MM Q2 2021: $354MM One thing to look for in today's 530pm conference call is whether Musk will even be present: he previously said he may not longer join, but one controversy may lure him to speak in public: Yesterday, NHTSA (the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration) said it’s hired Missy Cummings, a professor at UNC who studies automation and has been a very vocal critic of Tesla’s Autopilot feature. She’s joining the regulator as a “Senior Advisor for Safety.” Musk may also be asked to comment on the company's upcoming headquarters move from California to Austin, Texas. With that in mind, here is how Tesla did in the third quarter as per the just released investor letter: Revenue $13.76BN, missing the est $13.91B Adjusted EPS $1.86, beating the est 1.67c Free Cash Flow $1.328BN, missing the estimate of $1.38BN Automotive gross margin 30.5%, beating the estimate of 28.4% and up Y/Y from 27.7% GAAP automotive gross margin 28.8%, beating the estimate of Exp. 26.4% CapEx $1.828BN, missing the estimate of $1.37BN Cash and cash equivalents of $16.065BN, missing the estimate $16.88 billion And visually: Commenting on the quarter, Tesla said it had its “best-ever” net income, while it actually lowered prices in the third quarter. “Our operating margin reached an all-time high as we continue to reduce cost at a higher rate than declines in ASP.” Of note, unlike previous quarter when virtually all the profit came from the sale of regulatory credits, in Q3 the situation normalized somewhat with just $279MM from regulatory credits, a 30% drop Y/Y and a fraction of the GAAP Net Income of $1.618BN. Amusingly, Tesla announced that in Q3 it suffered a Bitcoin-related impairment of $51M, which however we are confident has been fully reversed by now. Some other highlights from the quarter, courtesy of Bloomberg: Still Sees 50% Average Annual Growth in Deliveries Continues to Ramp Gigafactory Shanghai Says Gigafactory Texas Progressing as Planned 3Q Free Cash Flow $1.33B, Est. $1.38B Targets Model Y Production in Berlin Before Yr-End The stock is volatille in kneejerk reaction, trading first higher, then lower, then unchanged and now appears to be drifting down. Developing Tyler Durden Wed, 10/20/2021 - 16:17