Tesla falls short on deliveries, disappointing Wall Street again after shedding nearly $700 billion in market value last year
- Tesla fell 4% ahead of Tuesday's opening bell after it missed Wall Street's delivery estimates.
- It logged just over 405,000 deliveries in the fourth quarter, falling short of analysts' 430,000 forecast.
Tesla reported its production and delivery totals for the fourth quarter Monday – and disappointed investors yet again after a year where its market value fell by nearly $700 billion.
The EV manufacturer said that it had logged 405,278 deliveries in the October-December period, taking its 2022 total to a record 1.3 million.
But that fell short of Wall Street analysts' prediction that Tesla would deliver 431,117 vehicles in the fourth quarter, according to data from Refinitiv.
Shares fell 3.56% to trade at $118.80 ahead of Tuesday's opening bell.
Tesla's latest report also showed that it produced 34,423 more vehicles than it delivered, meaning that supply outpaced demand for the third consecutive quarter.
The company's stock price plummeted 69% last year as slowing demand, rising interest rates, and CEO Elon Musk's chaotic Twitter takeover all spooked investors.
Its market capitalization fell from $1.06 trillion to $389 billion in 2022, according to Refinitiv – meaning it lost investors a record $672 billion.
"For much of 2022 Tesla's share price was more befitting of a clapped-out old banger than a shiny, sleek machine," AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said.
"It doesn't look like there's going to be an immediate change of speed for the company in 2023 given quarterly deliveries have fallen short of management expectations," he added.
Tesla is about to announce a major shake-up to deliveries to promote Greater China executive Tom Zhu to head up plants, sales, and services for North America, according to Reuters.
That move would make Zhu the EV manufacturer's second highest-profile executive – at a time when Musk is facing shareholder pressure to step down as CEO.
Tesla's share price has crashed 47% since Musk finalized his Twitter takeover on October 27, with analysts warning that the social-media giant is distracting him from his role as Tesla boss.
But Musk blamed Tesla's share price cratering last year on rising interest rates, which he said had fueled a broader market sell-off by making cash more attractive than stocks.