The Tesla earnings letter and call today were chock full of details on the work it has been doing in support of Model 3, to integrate and advance the Tesla Solar side of the business since the SolarCity acquisition last year, and to ramp up battery production in support of current and forecasted demand.
Tesla announced earnings for the first quarter of 2017 today and the message is loud and clear about the Model 3 — Tesla is on track for the move to production and ramping up its infrastructure across the board in support of the launch.
Tesla set a new (personal) delivery record during Quarter 1 2017, with a total of around 25,000 vehicles delivered during the quarter, according to an email Tesla sent to CleanTechnica.
Tesla has announced new offerings of $250 million of common stock “and $750 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due in 2022 in concurrent underwritten registered public offerings,” according to a new press release from the company.
Over the last half year or so, Tesla’s market value has risen substantially, surpassing that of Nissan Motor Company at points (including right now) and putting it within a hand’s reach of the two top American auto firms — GM and Ford.
In what was likely the most anticipated earnings call ever for Tesla, the auto manufacturer / stationary storage manufacturer / full service solar provider / soon-to-be taxi service / autonomous vehicle technology company (and maybe insurance company in the near future) shared financial results for Q4 2016 and for the full year. Perhaps more importantly, it also unpacked tons of detail for what’s to come in the balance of 2017 and beyond.
Tesla’s Q4 2016 and full-year 2016 production and delivery figures just came in on email. We’ll delve into the results a bit further in the coming days, but here are some initial highlights followed by the full Tesla announcement:
As part of its rapid expansion push following an unprecedented number of $1,000 deposits for the Model 3, Tesla has secured a further $500 million in borrowing capacity from its lenders through newly amended agreements, according to recent reports.
Tesla’s current financial plan “doesn’t require any capital raise for the Model 3 — at all.” There are a handful of reasons for this. One reason is that suppliers are now much more willing to let Tesla (TSLA) pay them for equipment in large part after production — a luxury Tesla didn’t … [continued]
The #1 story coming out of Tesla’s quarterly shareholder letter was widely considered to be the fact that Tesla (TSLA) was profitable in the third quarter. This is the first time in a few years that Tesla has had a profitable quarter, and it is a strong sign of financial efficiency and overall corporate health — especially at this stage in the company’s life. The momentous occasion inspired me to look back at Tesla’s history a bit, and compare Tesla of a few years ago to what Tesla has become.
