Bitcoin + Tesla => whoa!
(27 Apr Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. made $101 million selling Bitcoin in the first quarter, on top of raw automotive profits and regulatory credits.
The company spent $1.2 billion on the digital currency in the quarter. CEO Elon Musk had disclosed the crypto investment, helping fuel a massive Bitcoin rally, and now it has helped his company’s performance.
Regulatory credits accounted for $518 million in the first quarter, the company said -- up from $401 million in the fourth.
Tesla’s 1Q21 deliveries hit an all time high and were well above Bloomberg/FactSet consensus estimates of ~170k when the company announced preliminary deliveries on 4/4/2021. Total vehicle deliveries in the quarter were about 185k (+2% qoq and +109% yoy). Model 3/Y deliveries in the quarter were about 183k (+13% qoq and +140% yoy), and Model S/X deliveries were about 2k (-89% qoq and -83% yoy). Tesla produced about 180k vehicles (flat qoq and up 76% yoy), all of which were Model 3/Y (+10% qoq and +107% yoy) given the product changeover of the new versions of the Models X and S.
Tesla added that its order rate was the strongest in company history and that it is adding production capacity as quickly as possible.
Tesla stated that ASPs were down 13% yoy as its product mix continued to shift from the Models S and X to the more affordable Models 3 and Y, and lower ASP China-made vehicles represented a larger percentage of its mix. We had expected its ASP to be down 15% yoy driven in part by these mix shifts. Tesla has raised prices for select vehicle models recently (per the company website and media reports). However, Tesla commented that costs fell faster than price, allowing it to expand margins.
Tesla reported non-GAAP automotive gross margins (including SBC and excluding the revenue from regulatory credits) of 22.0%, which compares to GS at 20.0%.
Sales of regulatory credits were $518 mn in the quarter vs. our estimate of $300 mn. This contributed to the GAAP gross margin in automotive of 26.5%.
Non-GAAP diluted EPS (excluding stock based compensation or SBC) was $0.93, $0.23 above GS at $0.70 and $0.18 above the Street at $0.75.
Including SBC, we estimate that diluted EPS was $0.39 vs. GS at $0.14. While revenue (5% above GSe) and auto gross margin ex. regulatory credits (about 200 bps above GSe) were above our forecast, operating expenses were also higher (although some of this may be due to the supply chain constraints and extra qualification expense for alternative parts), and the company benefited from regulatory credit sales ($218 mn higher than GSe) and the sale of digital currency (net $101 mn). Excluding the impact of regulatory credits and digital currency sales, we estimate that EPS would have been about in line with our forecast.
 |
