Leading U.S. electric automaker, Tesla Inc., released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2023, revealing a 3 percent year-over-year increase in total revenue to $25.17 billion.
Despite fourth-quarter earnings of 71 cents per share, slightly below market expectations of 73 cents, the electric vehicle company demonstrated robust annual performance in 2023, with total revenue surging by 19 per cent year over year to $96.77 billion.
Tesla’s quarterly net income attributable to common stockholders (GAAP) showed significant improvement, reaching $7.93 billion, reflecting a remarkable 115 per cent increase year over year. The company’s annual net income also experienced a noteworthy uptick, reaching $15.0 billion, marking a 19 per cent increase from the previous year.
In the fourth quarter alone, Tesla manufactured approximately 495,000 vehicles and successfully delivered over 484,000. The year 2023 witnessed a substantial 38 per cent year-over-year growth in vehicle deliveries, totalling 1.81 million, while production experienced a 35 per cent increase, reaching 1.85 million.
At the end of the fourth quarter, Tesla’s free cash flow amounted to $2.06 billion, marking a notable 45 per cent year-over-year increase.
Following a scheduled global factory shutdown in the third quarter, Tesla achieved a record annualized run rate of nearly 2.0 million vehicles in the fourth quarter. The Megafactory in Shanghai, China, resumed normal-rate production during the same period, with the updated Model 3 reaching full production speed in less than two months.
Tesla reported a sequential decline in the cost of goods sold per vehicle, settling slightly above $36,000. In its financial report, the company emphasized ongoing efforts to achieve cost reductions across all production stages, from raw materials to final delivery.
Looking ahead, Tesla positioned itself between two significant growth phases. The first phase commenced with the global expansion of the Model 3/Y platform, while the global expansion of the next-generation vehicle platform will initiate the upcoming phase. The company anticipated a potentially lower vehicle volume growth rate in 2024, attributed to the team’s focus on launching the next-generation vehicle at Gigafactory Texas. Additionally, Tesla predicted that in 2024, the growth rate of deployments and revenue in its Energy Storage business would surpass that of the Automotive business.
