Tesla’s fourth-quarter net income fell 71% from a year ago when results were boosted by a one-time tax benefit. The latest results fell short of Wall Street forecasts.
The electric vehicle company run by Elon Musk said Wednesday that it made $2.31 billion from October through December, less than the $7.93 billion profit it posted in the same period in 2023.
Excluding one-time items in both periods, the Austin, Texas, company’s profits rose 3% to 73 cents a share, still not enough to meet analysts’ estimate of 77 cents a share.
Tesla stock fell more than 2% after trading closed Wednesday, but rose back up after the report, despite the lower-than-expected results. Shares are still up more than 50% since Donald Trump was elected president as investors expect Musk’s advisory role in the new administration will help the company.
Revenue in the quarter rose 2% to $25.7 billion, less than Wall Street forecast for $27.1 billion, according to FactSet.
The slight rise in revenue came after Tesla offered a series of incentives to drum up demand for its electric vehicles including low-interest loans and lower prices.
Earlier this month, Tesla said it sold 1.79 million vehicles in 2024, the first drop in more than a dozen years despite offers of 0% financing, free charging and low-priced leases. The fourth quarter showed signs of a rebound, though, with a record 495,570 vehicles sold.
Tesla has been losing market share in several countries as traditional car makers and other EV companies, such as China’s BYD, offer customers alternatives.
In its letter to shareholders released Wednesday, Tesla said it was working to drive the cost of its vehicles lower, highlighting that one measure fell below $35,000, the lowest in its history.
The company also said it hoped to offer completely unsupervised self-driving technology to Tesla customers later this year.
Tesla’s gross profit margin fell to 16.3% for the quarter, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier.
