The early impact of Tesla cutting prices on its products was that Chinese EV manufacturers also dropped the costs of their vehicles.
Electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) will deliver the slowest sales growth in 10 quarters during its earnings announcement on the 25th of January. The company has experienced lower deliveries, which could contribute to reduced sales growth. This comes as the EV giant cut prices on its electric cars to trigger consumer demand and restrict competition. Recently, Tesla issued huge discounts on its vehicles and has again lowered global prices by as much as 20%.
However, reducing the cost of cars may impact the company’s margin even though it will somewhat tackle increasing competition from traditional automakers. Some of the traditional auto manufacturers include Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F).
According to estimates by Refinitiv, Tesla is about to announce its slowest net profit rate and sales growth in three years. The EV manufacturer is already speeding up its production at the Berlin and Austin mega factories. Some analysts believe that ramping up factory output will result in a lower cost of production. They also hope that it will help the company absorb some of its losses. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein noted:
“I’m curious to see how those two (production cost and average selling price) offset each other in the fourth quarter because that will be an excellent directional indicator for what we can expect in 2023.”
The early impact of Tesla cutting prices on its products was that Chinese EV manufacturers also dropped the costs of their vehicles. The Tesla Model 3 compact sedan and Model Y compact SUV now cost about the same price as Fisker’s Ocean SUV. They are also up for lower than Rivian’s R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV. The latest price slash was not the first of its kind for Tesla. The company cut its prices in China on its Model 3 and Model Y. While the decision is partially to gain more Tesla customers and increases sales growth, it raised protests from some customers who claimed that they received their vehicles at relatively higher prices before the slashes were implemented.
For the upcoming earnings results, analysts expect Tesla to see its revenue climb 36% to $24.03 billion. Also, there are profit expectations of $1.13 per share. Data from Visible Alpha indicates that the auto gross margin could decline from 30.6% to 28% in Q4. With a market capitalization of almost $454 billion, 25 of the 42 analysts covering Tesla rate the stock a “buy” or higher. Meanwhile, 12 rates it “hold,” and five rates it “sell” or lower. On the stock price target, the median range is $186.
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