Investing.com -- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:) reported a record vehicle deliveries and deployed 11.0 GWh of energy storage products in the fourth quarter, the company said Thursday. However, deliveries came in below consensus expectations.
Tesla shares ended the Thursday session down 6.1.
The electric vehicle giant said its deliveries in the quarter came in at 495,570, below the consensus estimate of 512,277. According to Bernstein and RBC analysts, buyside expectations were in the region of 500,000/520,000.
Tesla also produced approximately 459,000 vehicles during the quarter.
Deliveries for the Model 3 and Model Y reached 471,930 units, while other models, contributed an additional 23,640 deliveries.
On a full-year basis, Tesla delivered a total of 1.79 million vehicles, with the Model 3 and Model Y accounting for over 1.7 million of those deliveries. However, Tesla's annual EV sales declined for the first time in over a decade.
Elsewhere, energy storage deployments reached a total of 31.4 GWh for the year.
Tesla plans to release its Q4 2024 financial results on January 29, 2025, after market close.
"Overall, we would characterize this is a respectable delivery number although the Street and bulls wanted to see a 500k+ number and the stock will be a bit weak on the knee-jerk reaction," said Wedbush following the report, adding that they are "strong buyers" of the stock on any sell-off on today's weaker 4Q delivery numbers.
The firm, which maintained an Outperform rating and $515 price target on the stock, said that looking to FY25, they "remain highly confident in Tesla’s ability to accelerate delivery growth into FY25 with 20%-30% delivery growth targets the focus for the Street as TSLA is also expected to launch its lower-priced EV in early 2025 to spur growth for vehicle deliveries."
Wedbush continued: "The $1 trillion of AI valuation has started to get unlocked in the Tesla story and we believe the march to a $2 trillion valuation for TSLA over the next 12 to 18 months has now begun in our view with FSD and autonomous penetration of Tesla's installed base and the launch of Cybercab representing the golden goose. We believe FSD penetration could increase to 50%+ and change the financial model/margins for Tesla looking ahead."
