Tesla’s Deliveries Came Up Short in China. Why the Stock Market Doesn’t Care—and You Shouldn’t Either.
Tesla shipped about 33,000 vehicles from its Shanghai facility in July, roughly the same number it shipped from China in June.
Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images
Tesla’s delivered just 8,600 cars in China last month, the latest Chinese delivery data show, a big drop from the previous month. Tesla stock is barely budging—and you don’t have to be a bull or bear to understand why.
The Chinese Passenger Car Association released Tesla (ticker: TSLA) shipments Tuesday. Tesla delivered about 33,000 vehicles from its Shanghai plant this past month. About 8,600 were delivered in China and about 24,300 were exported. Tesla delivered more EVs in the month than the joint venture between SAIC and General Motors (GM), which came in at number two with about 27,000 shipments, according to a translated version of the website.
The local delivery figure—at less than 9,000—might surprise, but the data is a repeat of April, the first month of the second quarter. Back then, Tesla shipped about 26,000 vehicles in total with 12,000 for local Chinese markets and 14,000 for export. By June, at the end of the second quarter, Tesla shipped about 33,000 vehicles with roughly 5,000 exported and 28,000 for the domestic Chinese market.
Tesla appears to export more cars early in the quarter and shift to local deliveries later in the quarter. Tesla wasn’t immediately available to comment on the deliveries or the delivery patterns.
The 33,000 total vehicles produced in July are roughly flat with June shipments and show Tesla producing at a rate of about 400,000 vehicles annually from its Shanghai facility. Tesla would like to produce close to 500,000 vehicles from a single plant, but the global automotive chip shortage continues to constrain auto production for many auto makers.
Tesla shares are flat in premarket trading. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are flat as well. All Tesla data points are closely scrutinized by the market. Some move the stock a lot. Others, like July deliveries, just keep the stock in its recent trading range.
Tesla stock rose 2.1% Monday after Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois upgraded his rating on the stock to Buy from Hold and increased his price target to $850 a share from $700.
Monday’s gain pushed Tesla stock into the green for the year. Coming into Tuesday trading, shares are up about 1.1% so far in 2021. Tesla stock has paused for a while, but shares are up 152% over the past 12 months. That’s better than the comparable 35% gain of the Nasdaq Composite over the same span.
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