Yesterday, Tesla’s stock plummeted more than 12% for its worst trading session in more than two years, following the release of the electric vehicle’s fourth-quarter vehicle production and delivery numbers for 2022.
Deliveries are the closest approximation of the sales disclosed by Tesla. In Q4, the company reported 405,278 total deliveries. For 2022, they reported 1.31 million total deliveries — a growth of 40% in deliveries year-over-year.
But, according to a consensus of analysts’ estimates compiled by FactSet, as of Dec. 31, 2022, Wall Street was expecting Tesla to report around 427,000 deliveries for Q4 (the company was shy approximately 21,000 deliveries). The electric vehicle maker also missed its own growth goal for the year.
Yesterday’s brutal selloff came in addition to a dramatic downward trend: The company, which is the most valuable automaker in the world, lost 65% of its value in 2022.
CEO Elon Musk has blamed Tesla’s declining share price in part on rising interest rates. But critics point to his rocky $44 billion Twitter takeover as another big culprit. There are other factors at play, too:
- Production has slowed down due to COVID shutdowns in China.
- Demand has cooled for its vehicles due in part to interest rate hikes, as well as lower gas prices and increased competition.
- The company has suffered from logistical issues that were at least partially to blame for its inability to deliver all of the vehicles that it produced.
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