Connect with us
tesla-store-model-x tesla-store-model-x

Investor's Corner

Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2022 earnings results: Analysts’ revenue estimates met, EPS expectations exceeded

A Tesla retail store at International Market Place in Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. Here, a Tesla Model X is on display with its falcon wing doors up. (Credit: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)

Published

on

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) posted its second-quarter 2022 earnings report after markets closed today. The results, which were discussed in the Q2 2022 Update Letter, were released after the closing bell on Wednesday, July 20, 2022.

Tesla faced headwinds in the second quarter, with the company producing a total of 258,580 vehicles and delivering 254,695. Tesla’s figures could be attributed to Giga Shanghai’s Covid-related shutdowns in April, which cost the company several weeks’ worth of vehicle production. 

The following is a quick overview of Tesla’s Q2 2022 results.

REVENUE

Tesla posted total revenues of $16.934B billion with a gross profit of $4.234B billion. In comparison, analysts expected Tesla to post revenue of $16.9 billion. Overall, Tesla’s revenue grew 42% year-over-year.

Advertisement

EARNINGS PER SHARE

Tesla posted non-GAAP earnings per share of $2.27 per share. In comparison, analysts were expecting Tesla to post adjusted earnings per share of $1.83

CASH

Tesla posted operating cash flow less CAPEX of $621 million in the second quarter. In total, the company was able to add $0.88 billion in its cash and cash equivalents to $18.3 billion in Q2 2022. Tesla noted that it converted approximately 75% of its Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency, bringing in $936M of cash to the company’s balance sheet.

PROFITABILITY

Tesla posted $2.5B GAAP operating income; 14.6% operating margin in Q2 2022, $2.3B GAAP net income; $2.6B non-GAAP net income (ex-SBC1) in the second quarter, and 27.9% GAAP automotive gross margin in Q2. Tesla’s operating income improved YoY to $2.5B in Q2, resulting in a 14.6% operating margin.

OTHER NOTABLE UPDATES

The Fremont factory was able to produce a record number of vehicles in the second quarter. The next generation of 4680 cell machinery has also been installed in Giga Texas. The new 4680 machinery are currently in the process of being commissioned

Advertisement

Gigafactory Shanghai currently has a capacity of over 750,000 vehicles per year, but the facility will soon be able to produce more after its upgrades this month. 

Giga Berlin exhibited strong production rate improvement at the end of the second quarter, with Tesla Germany producing more than 1,000 Model Y in one week. These vehicles are also equipped with 2170 cells, and thus still use more parts. 

As for Full Self-Driving and Autopilot, the FSD Beta group has now increased to over 100,000 drivers. Tesla Vision is also now being used for other features such as tightening seatbelts earlier in certain crashes. 

Tesla Energy deployments decreased by 11% year-over-year in the second quarter to just 1.1 GWh, mainly due to semiconductor challenges. Solar deployments increased by 25% YoY in Q2 to 106 MW, however. 

Advertisement

Below is Tesla’s Q2 2022 Update Letter. 

Disclaimer: I am long TSLA.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

Advertisement

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Tesla to a $100T market cap? Elon Musk’s response may shock you

Published

on

tesla elon musk

There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.

However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.

To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.

Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI

Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:

“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”

Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.

SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise

Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”

Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.

Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla director pay lawsuit sees lawyer fees slashed by $100 million

The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla China

The Delaware Supreme Court has cut more than $100 million from a legal fee award tied to a shareholder lawsuit challenging compensation paid to Tesla directors between 2017 and 2020. 

The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.

Delaware Supreme Court trims legal fees

As noted in a Bloomberg Law report, the case targeted pay granted to Tesla directors, including CEO Elon Musk, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Kimbal Musk, and Rupert Murdoch. The Delaware Chancery Court had awarded $176 million to the plaintiffs. Tesla’s board must also return stock options and forego years worth of pay. 

As per Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. in an opinion for the Delaware Supreme Court’s full five-member panel, however, the decision of the Delaware Chancery Court to award $176 million to a pension fund’s law firm “erred by including in its financial benefit analysis the intrinsic value” of options being returned by Tesla’s board.

Advertisement

The justices then reduced the fee award from $176 million to $70.9 million. “As we measure it, $71 million reflects a reasonable fee for counsel’s efforts and does not result in a windfall,” Chief Justice Seitz wrote.

Other settlement terms still intact

The Supreme Court upheld the settlement itself, which requires Tesla’s board to return stock and options valued at up to $735 million and to forgo three years of additional compensation worth about $184 million. 

Tesla argued during oral arguments that a fee award closer to $70 million would be appropriate. Interestingly enough, back in October, Justice Karen L. Valihura noted that the $176 award was $60 million more than the Delaware judiciary’s budget from the previous year. This was quite interesting as the case was “settled midstream.”

The lawsuit was brought by a pension fund on behalf of Tesla shareholders and focused exclusively on director pay during the 2017–2020 period. The case is separate from other high-profile compensation disputes involving Elon Musk.

Advertisement

Tesla Litigation by Simon Alvarez

Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla (TSLA) Q4 and FY 2025 earnings call: The most important points

Executives, including CEO Elon Musk, discussed how the company is positioning itself for growth across vehicles, energy, AI, and robotics despite near-term pressures from tariffs, pricing, and macro conditions.

Published

on

Credit: @AdanGuajardo/X

Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Q4 and FY 2025 earnings call highlighted improving margins, record energy performance, expanding autonomy efforts, and a sharp acceleration in AI and robotics investments. 

Executives, including CEO Elon Musk, discussed how the company is positioning itself for growth across vehicles, energy, AI, and robotics despite near-term pressures from tariffs, pricing, and macro conditions.

Key takeaways

Tesla reported sequential improvement in automotive gross margins excluding regulatory credits, rising from 15.4% to 17.9%, supported by favorable regional mix effects despite a 16% decline in deliveries. Total gross margin exceeded 20.1%, the highest level in more than two years, even with lower fixed-cost absorption and tariff impacts.

The energy business delivered standout results, with revenue reaching nearly $12.8 billion, up 26.6% year over year. Energy gross profit hit a new quarterly record, driven by strong global demand and high deployments of MegaPack and Powerwall across all regions, as noted in a report from The Motley Fool.

Advertisement

Tesla also stated that paid Full Self-Driving customers have climbed to nearly 1.1 million worldwide, with about 70% having purchased FSD outright. The company has now fully transitioned FSD to a subscription-based sales model, which should create a short-term margin headwind for automotive results.

Free cash flow totaled $1.4 billion for the quarter. Operating expenses rose by $500 million sequentially as well.

Production shifts, robotics, and AI investment

Musk further confirmed that Model S and Model X production is expected to wind down next quarter, and plans are underway to convert Fremont’s S/X line into an Optimus robot factory with a capacity of one million units.

Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet has surpassed 500 vehicles, operating across the Bay Area and Austin, with Musk noting a rapid monthly expansion pace. He also reiterated that CyberCab production is expected to begin in April, following a slow initial S-curve ramp before scaling beyond other vehicle programs.

Advertisement

Looking ahead, Tesla expects its capital expenditures to exceed $20 billion next year, thanks to the company’s operations across its six factories, the expansion of its fleet expansion, and the ramp of its AI compute. Additional investments in AI chips, compute infrastructure, and future in-house semiconductor manufacturing were discussed but are not included in the company’s current CapEx guidance.

More importantly, Tesla ended the year with a larger backlog than in recent years. This is supported by record deliveries in smaller international markets and stronger demand across APAC and EMEA. Energy backlog remains strong globally as well, though Tesla cautioned that margin pressure could emerge from competition, policy uncertainty, and tariffs. 

Continue Reading