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Tesla (TSLA) Q3 2021 earnings results: EPS beat and monster automotive margins

Credit: Tesla

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Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) third-quarter for 2021 saw the electric car maker post $13.757 billion in revenue. The results, which were discussed in the Q3 2021 Update Letter, were released after the closing bell on Wednesday, October 20.

Tesla was impressive in the third quarter, with the company producing a total of 237,823 vehicles. This was quite a feat considering the ongoing supply chain challenges that have so far adversely affected numerous carmakers today. The company also delivered a record 241,300 vehicles, comprised of 232,025 Model 3 and Model Y, as well as 9,275 Model S and Model X.

The company’s Q3 2021 results were bolstered in part by Tesla’s growing influence in China. Gigafactory Shanghai has so far become Tesla’s primary vehicle export hub, and it stayed true to this task by exporting both the Model 3 and the Model Y to foreign territories such as Europe and Asia. Deliveries of the high-margin Model S Plaid and Long Range also continued in the third quarter. 

The following are the key points in Tesla’s Q3 2021 Update Letter. In its letter, Tesla noted that Q3 2021 marked a time when the company achieved its best-ever net income, operating profit, and gross profit.

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Revenue

Tesla posted $13.757 billion in revenue for Q3 2021. In comparison, FactSet analyst consensus estimated that Tesla would be posting revenue of $13.7 billion for the third quarter. Estimize, on the other hand, forecasted $13.9 billion in revenue for the EV maker. 

Earnings

Tesla posted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.86 in the third quarter. In comparison, analysts polled by FactSet expected the company to report adjusted earnings of $1.58 per share. Estimize forecasted an EPS of $1.79 per share for Tesla in Q3 2021. 

Cash

Tesla’s operating cash flow less CAPEX stood at $1.3 billion in Q3 2021, while net debt and finance lease repayments reached $1.5 billion. Overall, Tesla saw a $164 million decrease in its cash and cash equivalents in the third quarter to $16.1 billion.

Profitability

Tesla posted $2 billion GAAP operating income and 14.6% operating margin in Q3 2021. The company also posted $1.6 billion of GAAP net income and $2.1 billion non-GAAP net income in the third quarter. Automotive gross margin stood at 30.5% GAAP (28.8% ex-credits) in Q3 2021.

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Notable Updates

  • Tesla’s Fremont factory has produced over 430,000 in the last four quarters, and there’s still room for improvement. 
  • Giga Texas is moving as planned. First pre-production Model Y are now being built. 
  • Giga Shanghai is settling in nicely on its role as Tesla’s primary vehicle export hub. 
  • Giga Berlin is expected to receive its final permit by the end of the year. The facility is ready to start operations.
  • AI Day was an overwhelming success. Tesla received tons of employee applications for its AI team. 
  • 4680 battery cell production continues to make progress

Tesla’s Q3 2021 Update Letter could be accessed below.

TSLA Q3 2021 Quarterly Update by Simon Alvarez on Scribd

Disclaimer: I am long TSLA

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

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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.

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Investor's Corner

Lucid denies rumors of bankruptcy after over 40% stock drop

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Credit: Lucid

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:

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.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla gets price target upgrade on heels of crazy successful auto quarter

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla received a price target upgrade just on the heels of what was a crazy successful quarter for its automotive business, as the company reported a delivery beat of over 15 percent for Q2.

Jefferies analysts are upping Tesla’s price target (NASDAQ: TSLA) to $400 from $375, while maintaining their “Hold” rating on shares, and the strong automotive deliveries from Q2 is a big reason. However, there are some other catalysts that Jefferies believes position Tesla for a strong position in the second half of the year.

Strong Deliveries

Tesla reported 480,000 deliveries for Q2, while Wall Street was between 395,000 and 405,000, as an overall consensus. It was an incredibly strong quarter from a delivery perspective, and Tesla sold well more than it produced during the three months.

Tesla crushes Wall Street expectations, beats delivery estimates by over 15 percent

While vehicle deliveries are not necessarily looked at in the light that they used to be, Tesla still maintains a lot of advantages for keeping deliveries strong. With the loss of the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year, Tesla still maintains a strong demand case for its EVs.

Robotaxi Performance

Tesla has been operating Robotaxi for over a year now, as it launched in Austin in mid-2025. That program has expanded to Houston and Dallas, the San Francisco Bay Area, and, most recently, Miami, Florida, the suite’s first appearance in the Sunshine State.

While the Robotaxi suite is still in its early phases and Tesla is working through things like fleet size and wait times, the company has been able to undercut the pricing of its competitors and has a great safety record.

Merger Speculation with Tesla and SpaceX

This is perhaps the biggest topic that many are speaking about with Tesla and SpaceX, and it is the one thing that seems to be on the mind of every investor.

Jefferies warns that growing talk of a Tesla-SpaceX merger could cause Tesla stock to trade more like a SpaceX proxy, which may disconnect it from underlying automotive fundamentals. SpaceX has a lot going for it, especially its compute deals that have been widely publicized as of late.

Profitability in New Projects Could Take Some Time

Tesla has a few long-term ventures in the pipeline, most notably the Optimus project and Robotaxi, which is launched but will take several years to expand to a meaningful level that resonates with everyday people.

This is something that investors need to be careful of. Tesla’s projects could take some time to round out, so Jefferies advises that these may carry initial losses, rather than immediate profit. Seasoned Tesla investors have echoed something like this for a long time; they knew going in it would not be an open-and-shut strategy. It was going to take time.

These new projects are no different.

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Investor's Corner

NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope heads to orbit this August aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy with massive scientific ambitions.

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SpaceX is set to play a central role in one of NASA’s most anticipated science missions in years. The company’s Falcon Heavy rocket, currently the most powerful operational launch vehicle in the world, will carry the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope into orbit on August 30 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roman is now in final preparations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where on June 26 technicians used a crane to lift the observatory into a specialized stand for fueling and pre-launch testing.

Roman is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief of astronomy, whose career helped shape how the agency approaches space science.

NASA chose SpaceX Falcon Heavy because of Roman’s needs to reach a specific orbit far from Earth, well beyond where a standard Falcon 9 can deliver it. The Falcon Heavy, which first flew in 2018, has since become NASA’s go-to option for missions that need serious muscle without the cost and complexity of older launch systems.

Celebrating SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Tesla Roadster launch, seven years later (Op-Ed)

Roman will carry a field of view at least 100 times wider than the Hubble Space Telescope, meaning it can photograph enormous swaths of the universe in a single shot rather than the narrow slices Hubble captures. That difference in scale is significant. While Hubble reshaped our understanding of the cosmos over 30 years, Roman is built to work faster and wider, surveying hundreds of millions of galaxies at once.

One of Roman’s most compelling capabilities is its potential to discover and photograph planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, and with enough precision to directly image planets that would otherwise be lost. That means scientists could study the atmosphere and surface characteristics of distant worlds rather than simply confirming they exist. Combined with Roman’s sweeping field of view, the telescope could detect thousands of exoplanets, and some of those planets may be in habitable zones where liquid water could exist. No telescope currently in operation has this level of power and capability. That capability alone could change what we know about other worlds, and perhaps finally answer the question: are we the only intelligent lifeforms in existence? 

What Roman actually finds once it reaches orbit is an open question, and that is exactly what makes this launch worth watching.

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