First quarter | Tesla stock falls despite rising deliveries

(New York) Shares of U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla fell in pre-session electronic trading on Wall Street, despite posting strong first-quarter delivery numbers.

The group led by Elon Musk delivered a total of 422,875 vehicles between January and the end of March, according to a press release published on Sunday, an increase of more than 36% over one year and 4.3% compared to the 4th quarter of 2022.

This figure “is clearly a step in the right direction,” said Daniel Ives, analyst for Wedbush Securities, in a note in a “gloomy macroeconomic context”. This is a record, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets, who nevertheless expected higher deliveries.

The group also recorded an increase in its production, which reached 440,808 vehicles in the first three months of the year (44% over one year, a figure almost stable compared to the fourth quarter of last year).

In 2022, the group delivered a total of 1.31 million electric vehicles, which represented a record and a jump of 40% over one year. But Elon Musk’s company has set itself the long-term goal of increasing its deliveries by an average of 50% per year.

An ambitious goal as investors worry that sales will slow due to the economic slowdown, rising interest rates that make it more expensive to buy a car and the arrival of multiple competitors on the market. electric vehicle market.

To boost sales, Tesla has lowered prices in recent months, first in China and then in Europe and the United States, sometimes by up to 20%. A decision considered by some analysts as necessary to defend its market share, by others as a sign of weakness.

For Wedbush Securities, the price cuts implemented in early 2023 have paid off, with “very strong demand despite an uncertain macroeconomic environment”.

But the news was not entirely convincing: in electronic trading before the opening of Wall Street, the title fell 2% to 203.2 dollars, after closing up 6.2% on Friday evening.