Tesla reports biggest revenue slide since 2012, announces renewed push for affordable model

Tesla reported a 9% drop in first-quarter revenue on Tuesday, the biggest decline since 2012, and missed analysts’ estimates, as the electric vehicle company weathers the impact of ongoing price cuts.

Here are the results.

• Earnings per share: 45 cents adjusted vs. 51 cents per share expected by LSEG
• Revenue: $21.30 billion vs. $22.15 billion expected by LSEG

Revenue declined from $23.33 billion a year earlier and from $25.17 billion in the fourth quarter. Net income dropped 55% to $1.13 billion, or 34 cents a share, from $2.51 billion, or 73 cents a share, a year ago.

The drop in sales was even steeper than the company’s last decline in 2020, which was then due to disrupted production during the Covid pandemic. Tesla’s automotive revenue declined 13% year-over-year to $17.34 billion in the first three months of 2024.

In its shareholder deck, Tesla reiterated a pessimistic outlook for 2024, telling investors that “volume growth rate may be notably lower than the growth rate achieved in 2023.”

Tesla shares have plummeted more than 40% this year on concerns about weak deliveries, competition in China and the company’s ongoing price cuts. Earlier this month, Tesla reported an 8.5% year-over-year decline in vehicle deliveries for the first quarter.

The stock, trading near its lowest since early 2023, rose about 5% in extended trading after the report.

The company said in the deck that it’s accelerating the launch of “new vehicles, including more affordable models,” that will “be able to be produced on the same manufacturing lines” as Tesla’s current lineup. Tesla is aiming to “fully utilize” its current production capacity and to achieve “more than 50% growth over 2023 production” before investing in new manufacturing lines.

Revenue in Tesla’s energy division increased 7% to $1.64 billion, while services and other revenue rose 25% to $2.29 billion compared to the same period last year.

Sales growth across EVs is slowing, and Tesla and key rivals have been slashing EV prices, on and off for months, to try to spur demand. Tesla’s gross profits plummeted 18% in the first quarter, partly owing to price cuts throughout the start of the year.

Tesla embarked on a massive restructuring this month with two executives, Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel, resigning. Musk said last week in a companywide memo that the automaker was cutting more than 10% of its global workforce.

Capital expenditures rose to $2.77 billion, up 34% from a year earlier.

Free cash flow turned negative in the quarter, with the company reporting a deficit of $2.53 billion. A year ago, Tesla reported free cash flow of $441 million, a number that reached $2.06 billion in the fourth quarter. Tesla attributed the negative figure to a $2.7 billion buildup in inventory and $1 billion in capital expenditures on “AI infrastructure.”

A livestream of the earnings call is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET.

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