A Tesla car charges at a Tesla Supercharger station in Corte Madera, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Electric vehicle pioneer Tesla delivered 201,250 cars in the second quarter, above the 200,000 level that would have signaled a major disappointment. They don’t look good enough to lift the stock, however.
The line in the sand for Tesla (ticker: TSLA) investors was about 200,000 deliveries. More than that should have been good for the stock. Less would have been bad. That means the second-quarter number qualifies as a minor “beat” versus investor expectations.
Tesla shares were down 0.3% at $675.68 in premarket trading. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.2%.
Still, the second-quarter number is another quarterly record. Tesla delivered about 185,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2021, compared with 181,000 in the fourth quarter of 2020 and about 88,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2020. Growth is continuing, but with full-year expectations for about 865,000 deliveries for 2021, investors likely expected stronger growth.
Tesla needs to deliver roughly 475,000 vehicles in the second half to hit Wall Street expectations. Tesla produced more than 206,000 vehicles in the second quarter, up from about 180,000 in the first quarter.
Tesla doesn’t have formal guidance for full-year 2021 deliveries. Tesla expects to grow faster than 50% in 2021. The company delivered about 500,000 vehicles in 2020.
The number doesn’t look like a big enough surprise to shake up Tesla stock, which has had an interesting year. Shares are down about 5% in the first quarter of the year, closing at roughly $668 a share. Shares traded above $900 in January. Shares gained about 2% in the second quarter, closing at about $680.
Coming into Friday, shares are down a little year to date, trailing behind comparable gains of the overall market as well as many other automotive stocks that have benefited from the global economic recovery which is boosting auto sales.
Many things impacted Tesla stock including rising interest rates—which hurts high growth stocks such as Tesla more than slow growth stocks such as traditional auto makers—and a semiconductor shortage that constrained auto production around the globe. It took a while for investors to adjust to those factors, as well as others, and for Tesla stock to bounce off recent lows.
Chinese EV makers NIO (NIO) and XPeng (XPEV) reported strong June deliveries. NIO stock opened higher Thursday and closed down 4.3%. XPeng shares opened higher as well and closed down 1.7%. Both stocks had a strong run in June. Investors appear to have sold on news.
It looks like they may do the same with Tesla.
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