In a surprise to no one, Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings were a mixed bag, depending upon what kind of “bag” you want to use: non-GAAP or GAAP.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based EV maker reported net income of $46 million, or 33 cents per share, on a non-GAAP basis. Using GAAP reporting, which is typically the standard, the company lost $16 million, or 13 cents per share. The earnings include $15 million in regulatory credits, although no zero-emission vehicle credit sales, the company noted.
It also secured $13 million in revenue from powertrain programs is has with Toyota and Daimler. Tesla officials noted the reason for providing both GAAP and non-GAAP results is “due to lease accounting for our resale value guarantee (RVG) and employee stock based compensation as a result of the increase in our stock price last year.”
Overall, non-GAAP revenue was $761 million, up 26% from Q3. GAAP revenue for Q4 was $615 million, up 43% from Q3, the company said in a letter to shareholders today.
Tesla sold 6,893 vehicles during the quarter, which was predicted in a note last month when the company pushed the original forecast upward 20%. Overall, the EV maker sold 22,477 vehicles last year.
“We produced more cars than originally expected in the quarter, aided by manufacturing, design and quality improvements, but also strong efforts from our supply chain,” the company said.
The maker expects that total to jump to nearly 7,400 units in the first quarter of this year, which would be second consecutive quarterly record, and 35,000 units for the full year. Tesla began taking orders for the Model S in China last month and will add Germany and other parts of Europe to the rolls later this year.
“Towards the end of the year, we expect sales in (Asia and Europe) combined to be almost twice that of North America,” Tesla noted, adding its Beijing store is already the busiest retail Tesla store in the world.
For the full year, Tesla’s revenue came to almost $2.5 billion with net income of $103.6 million, or 87 cents a share, on a non-GAAP basis. Conversely, the company’s revenue on a GAAP basis was a little more than $2 billion with a loss of $74 million, or 62 cents per share, for 2013.
(Tesla in the black for Q3…sort of. For more, Click Here.)
Earlier, the company said would increase research and development spending by 25% to ensure the Model X would meet the deadline for delivery by the end of this year or early next year. Officials plan to increase that again, although they didn’t disclose how much it would jump.
(Click Here to get details on a possible Apple/Tesla tie up.)
“We expect to have production design Model X prototypes on the road by end of year and begin volume deliveries to customers in the spring of 2015,” they said.
Finally, the company plans to elaborate on its highly anticipated “gigafactory” that will help reduce the cost of battery packs.
(To see why Tesla’s stock price is setting new records, Click Here.)
“Working in partnership with our suppliers, we plan to integrate precursor material, cell, module and pack production into one facility,” the letter stated. “With this facility, we feel highly confident of being able to create a compelling and affordable electric car in approximately three years. This will also allow us to address the solar power industry’s need for a massive volume of stationary battery packs.”
