After German time on the night of this Thursday (at 0.30 a.m.), Tesla will announce its fourth quarter and full year results. It is already known that the company has set new records for the sale of its electric cars in both periods, so that analysts expect increased sales. They also expect a profit at least on a quarterly basis. In addition, there will be a conference call after the numbers are announced, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk will probably also attend. On this occasion, he could announce a number of news.
With earnings per share of $ 1.86 in the previous quarter, Tesla had surprised the market, which once again significantly accelerated the price increase of the Tesla share. For the fourth quarter, analysts now expect adjusted earnings of $ 1.65 per share and sales of $ 6.9 billion, according to the exchange service FactSet. Both were slightly below the record levels for the final quarter of 2018, for which Tesla reported $ 1.93 adjusted earnings per share and $ 7.2 billion in sales. Tesla’s official GAAP profit in the fourth quarter of 2019 is estimated to have been 43 cents per share after 78 cents in the prior-year quarter.
But looking ahead is more important than the past for a company like Tesla, and in that regard, Tesla may have some surprises up its sleeve, according to a report from the Bloomberg news agency.
So there could be news about the launch of the Tesla Model Y. The electric crossover should initially only reach customers at the end of 2020, but recently there have been increasing indications of a much earlier start. CEO Musk’s comments on the autopilot system are also awaited with great interest, according to Bloomberg. In contrast to the Model Y, Tesla missed an appointment announced by Musk for this: By the end of 2019, all the sub-functions required for autonomous driving (FSD) should be ready, which Musk later postponed to an indefinite “soon”.
Tesla observers are also hoping for more information about developments in China. Here, Tesla completed the construction of its third Gigafactory (GF3, recently called Giga Shanghai) before the end of 2019 and began delivering the Model 3 produced there to customers in early 2020. The demand for the electric car from China is said to be huge, but could suffer at least in the short term from the Corona virus, which is currently rampant in the country.
The Bloomberg overview does not include the topic of the German Gigafactory (Giga Berlin), which should also be addressed if there are any questions in the Tesla conference call. Here Musk could announce that the purchase contract for the property in Brandenburg was officially signed, because a final report on the purchase price should be available by the end of January.
Another point is possible improvements for the Tesla premium models Model S and Model X, whose sales have dropped due to the newly available Model 3 at a lower price and with more modern technology. A hacker has discovered information that he believes that new batteries for Model S and X will be offered very soon.
The Q4 business figures are to be published on the Tesla website, which also provides access to a live stream of the conference call. However, registration is required for the transfer. Alternatively, the blog CleanTechnica has announced a free live stream with additional information.
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