Investor's Corner
Tesla Q1 2020 earnings call: What Wall St is expecting
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to release its Q1 2020 financial results after markets close tomorrow, April 29, 2020. Following the release of its first-quarter Update Letter, the electric car maker is scheduled to hold its earnings call, which will begin at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time (6:30 p.m. Eastern Time).
Expectations are higher for Tesla for the first quarter of 2020 despite an extended shutdown of the company’s Fremont, Giga Nevada, and Giga New York facilities in the United States. TSLA stock has more than doubled in value since dipping below $400 per share in March, and the 88,400 vehicle deliveries for Q1 were above Wall Street’s estimates of 75,000-80,000.
REVENUE
Analysts polled by FactSet currently expect Tesla to post a revenue of $6.11 billion. In contrast, Tesla reported revenue of $7.38 billion in Q4 2020, beating Wall Street estimates of $7.047 billion. The company’s revenue is up 35% annually, according to the financial agency.
EARNINGS
Tesla’s strong Q4 2019 saw an earnings per share of $2.14 for TSLA stock. On the other hand, Q1 2019 saw a loss of $2.90 per share. In comparison, analysts expect a GAAP EPS of -$0.90 and non-GAAP EPS of -$0.27 for Q1 2020, as noted in a report from The Street.
FREE CASH FLOW
The consensus among analysts polled by FactSet for Tesla’s free cash flow (FCF) for Q1 2020 is negative $329 million. In comparison, Tesla posted $1.013 billion of free cash flow for Q4 2019. Analysts believe the company’s shutdown of its Fremont factory and COVID-19’s unquestionable impact on production and deliveries will result in significant cash burn.
UPDATES FOR ONGOING PROJECTS
CEO Elon Musk mentioned in March that the company would be looking to build a new Gigafactory within the United States that would be intended for the production of the Cybertruck. Musk plans to produce the Model Y at this upcoming factory as well, which will decrease delivery times for customers in the Eastern sections of the country.
Tesla has plenty of projects going on despite the halt in production in the United States. In China, the Model 3 is quickly becoming one of the most popular vehicles, especially after the car posted a 450% increase in registrations from February to March. This statistic is implicating the overwhelming demand for the vehicle is rising as Tesla begins to offer additional configurations of the affordable sedan, as well as new interior options.
Giga Shanghai was subjected to a shutdown following the Chinese New Year, but Tesla initiated a number of safety measures that aimed to keep employees safe and healthy. Giga Shanghai has since reopened and is currently producing an estimated 3,000 Model 3 per week.
During its January forecasting, Tesla stated its solar and energy storage deployments would expand by “at least 50%” during 2020. With Giga New York closed for solar production, this figure may need to be revised, especially considering the fact that the state of New York has been hit hard by the coronavirus.
However, the site could reopen for ventilator production, as Medtronic and Tesla reached an agreement to begin manufacturing ventilators at the production facility in Buffalo, New York in March.
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
Four Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-zero, forcing SpaceX to scrub Starship Flight 13 Thursday.
SpaceX scrubbed the Starship Flight 13 launch attempt Thursday evening at the last possible moment, after four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite during the startup sequence. The 90-minute window had opened at 6:45 p.m. EDT from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and the countdown had proceeded without issue all day, with more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen being fully loaded into the rocket before the automated abort triggered. SpaceX’s launch directors posted on X, “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” and shut down the livestream shortly after.
Musk confirmed the root cause within hours. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” he wrote on X. “To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed and replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.” SpaceX engineers began draining propellant tanks immediately and Booster 20 was rolled back to its hangar for inspection.
The timing adds a layer of significance that did not exist during any of the previous 12 Starship flights. This is the first time SpaceX has attempted to launch Starship since the company made its stock market debut in June, listing under ticker SPCX at $135 per share. Public investors are now watching every Starship outcome in real time, and a last-second abort carries more visibility than it would have six months ago.
Flight 13 was designed to be one of the most consequential tests in the program’s history. It was set to carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational payload Starship has ever attempted to deploy. Six of those satellites carried external cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield from the outside during flight, which would act as a self-inspection approach SpaceX has never attempted before. The mission also needed to complete a Raptor engine relight in space, a step SpaceX skipped on Flight 12 in May after losing an engine during ascent. That Flight 12 booster also flipped 90 degrees off course during its boostback burn when five engines failed to reignite.
SpaceX has not announced an official next launch date. Musk’s “early next week” window points to July 21 or 22 at the earliest, pending the engine swap and a return to the pad.
Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli responded to rumors of an imminent bankruptcy that was reportedly being mulled after a report stated the automaker was working with the firm AlixPartners to iron out its next steps.
The company felt a massive loss on Wall Street yesterday, as the report essentially pushed the stock down as much as 55 percent on Tuesday.
The report, published initially by Eletric-Vehicles.com, claimed Lucid was essentially in dire straits and was told by AlixPartners, a commonly used restructuring advisor, to either take shares private or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Lucid’s head of Communications, Nick Twork, immediately challenged the report and stated the company “has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year.”
Now, the company’s CEO is chiming in as well, stating that the report is “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Napoli said:
“Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private. Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period.
As disclosed in our most recent quarterly filing, Lucid has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations well into next year.
We work with outside advisors to improve operational performance and execution. They are not advising Lucid on a take-private transaction or bankruptcy, and any suggestion that they have recommended either course of action to management or the Board is false.
My priority is clear: turn this company around. That is where the leadership team and I are focused.
I look forward to providing a full update during our quarterly earnings call on August 4th.”
🚨 Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli calls rumors of financial issues “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Read his full remarks here: https://t.co/t3Pg1NHvzy pic.twitter.com/LvHUPhO4Qf
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 15, 2026
It seems pretty clear that Lucid is confident things will be okay, and, to be honest, they should not have much to worry about, especially considering the company has been backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) for years. It has solid financial backing, and its sales, while weak, are pretty much right on par with a company of this age.
Lucid also sent a Cease & Desist letter to the publication for their report.
Lucid shares have rebounded nicely and are up nearly 21 percent at the time of publication. As soon as the company dispelled the rumors of bankruptcy yesterday, the stock began to climb back toward more reasonable levels.
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.
Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”
Twork said:
$LCID The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is…
— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 14, 2026
Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.
Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.
Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
Elon Musk secretly acquires $1B energy company to power the AI future
