Why Tesla Stock Fell After Q1 Deliveries
Key Points
Tesla Q1 deliveries rose versus the year-ago period, but were 14% lower than the fourth quarter.
Energy storage had been showing rapid growth, but was a big disappointment.
Investors are now looking toward earnings on April 22.
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Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) announced first-quarter vehicle deliveries today, and they weren't overly impressive. The company delivered nearly 360,000 electric vehicles (EVs) at the start of the year, but Wall Street expected even more.
That wasn't the only disappointment, though. Tesla shares plunged on the news. Here are the other reasons the stock was down 4.2% at 12:20 p.m. ET.
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What Tesla investors are really watching
EV sales aren't what Tesla investors are focusing on anymore. That business is being viewed as a funding mechanism for its loftier goals related to self-driving robotaxis, related artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and its energy storage business.
While more details on AI and robotaxi deployment probably won't be available until Tesla reports first-quarter earnings on April 22, the energy business's first-quarter results were very disappointing. Tesla reported the lowest amount of energy storage products deployed since Q3 2024. The 8.8 GWh (gigawatt-hour) that were put in service was a sharp drop from 14.2 GWh last quarter.
Analysts didn't mince words about the company's update. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called it an "underwhelming" way to start the year. Investment manager Gary Black noted that the surge in oil prices should boost EV sales. He noted there was "no way for Tesla to spin this as a positive result with oil price up."
The gist is that there wasn't much to like from Tesla's update today. All eyes will now be on how soon the company tells investors it plans to roll out its driverless vehicle fleet during its April 22 conference call.
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Howard Smith has positions in Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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