$Tesla (TSLA.US)$ reported its year-end vehicle production and delivery numbers for 2022 on Monday, falling behind Wall Street estimates by about 3%.
The company founded by Elon Musk delivered around 1.31 million vehicles last year, or 40% growth compared to the units delivered during 2021.
In a historical first, the company surpassed 400,000 vehicles delivered in a single quarter during the fourth quarter.
"We continued to transition towards a more even regional mix of vehicle builds which again led to a further increase in cars in transit at the end of the quarter," Tesla said in a statement.
Early Reactions To Tesla's Q4 Deliveries: Gary Black, managing partner of The Future Fund, said on Twitter there is no way to sugarcoat the fact that Tesla missed a consensus on delivered units for the fourth quarter. Tesla delivered 405,000 units against a consensus estimate of between 418,000 and 427,000.
"Is the miss due to a change to a more even regional mix of builds or are there demand issues?" said Black.
No way to sugar coat this but it fuels the debate again: Is the miss due to a change to a more even regional mix of builds or are there demand issues? Analysts will reduce 2023 vol and eps as a result of this. TSLA can't talk about any of this until the Jan 25 earnings print. pic.twitter.com/5s31huCCML
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) January 2, 2023
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said that "while bulls will not be super happy," he believes the fourth quarter saw relatively good performance in a tough backdrop.
For the analyst, the fourth quarter results came in above the worst-case fears of not reaching 400,000 delivered units "in a jittery macro" environment, the analyst said in a tweet.
TSLA announces 4Q 405k deliveries missing Street's 418k. Lot of moving parts but overall would call this better than worst case fears (above 400k) in a jittery macro. While bulls will not be super happy we believe this was a relatively good performance in tough backdrop.
— Dan Ives (@DivesTech) January 2, 2023
Investor and influencer Kevin Paffrath, best known as Meet Kevin, said that "not many companies grow like this during recessions" and called the results "incredible growth during a difficult year."
Tesla production up 47.2% year/year
— Meet Kevin (@realMeetKevin) January 2, 2023
Tesla delivers up 40.33% year/year
Incredible growth during a difficult year. Not many companies grow like this during recessions! Great job team @Tesla and @elonmusk $TSLA pic.twitter.com/dxlmtau0qQ
The investor added that a 3.7% miss on estimates is not a "huge miss" as other commentators have said.
Benzinga's Take: The Chinese market will play a substantial role in demand for Tesla vehicles in the years to come and could be the moving piece that makes or breaks Tesla's demand health.