Tesla expects production at its Shanghai plant in the second quarter to be roughly on par with the first quarter, but to grow rapidly in the third and fourth quarters.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) warned of supply chain issues when it released its fourth-quarter earnings in January, and they apparently remain one of the main challenges over the past few months, but the company still saw record first-quarter revenue.
Tesla reported revenue of $18.76 billion in the first quarter, up 81 percent from a year earlier and above Wall Street analysts' expectations of $17.92 billion, according to its earnings report, which was released after the US stock market closed on Wednesday.
It reported a gross profit of $5.46 billion in the first quarter, up 147 percent from a year earlier.
The company saw a gross margin of 29.1 percent in the first quarter under GAAP, which is 24.7 percent in the fourth quarter last year and above analysts' expectations of 25.8 percent.
Tesla's vehicle gross profit was $5.54 billion in the first quarter, up 132 percent year-on-year.
Under GAAP, the vehicle margin was 32.9 percent, 6.36 percentage points higher than in the first quarter last year and above analyst estimates of 28.4 percent and 30.6 percent in the fourth quarter last year.
Tesla delivered a record 310,048 vehicles in the first quarter, up 67.77 percent from 184,800 in the same period last year, according to data released earlier this month. But that's up just 0.47 percent from 308,600 vehicles in the fourth quarter of last year.
The company reported a non-GAAP adjusted net income of $3.74 billion in the first quarter, up 255 percent year on year.
It reported GAAP adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $3.22, up 246 percent year-on-year and above analysts' estimates of $2.27.
The company reported free cash flow of $2.23 billion in the first quarter, up 660 percent year-on-year and above analysts' expectations of $671.8 million.
It ended the quarter with $17.51 billion in cash and cash equivalents, below analysts' expectations of $18.63 billion.
Tesla said supply chain-related challenges continue, and its team has been navigating them for more than a year.
"In addition to chip shortages, recent Covid-19 outbreaks have been weighing on our supply chain and factory operations," Tesla said.
"Furthermore, prices of some raw materials have increased multiple-fold in recent months. The inflationary impact on our cost structure has contributed to adjustments in our product pricing, despite a continued focus on reducing our manufacturing costs where possible," it added.
Tesla said it plans to expand manufacturing capacity as soon as possible and, as in the fourth quarter of last year, continues to expect annual growth in vehicle deliveries to exceed 50 percent for many years.
The company's CEO, Elon Musk, said on a conference call that Tesla has reasons to achieve a 60 percent growth rate in shipments this year and remains confident that shipments will grow at an average annual rate of 50 percent over multiple years.
Musk said the inflation problem is more severe than officially reported and is likely to last a full year in 2022.
After raising the price of its vehicles in China and the US in the first quarter, Tesla has no intention of continuing to raise prices in the near future, which Musk said is because the current prices are for cars delivered in the next 6 to 12 months.
Musk responded to questions related to the shutdown of Giga Shanghai, one of its most important factories, which has been the focus of investor attention since the end of March.
He said the Shanghai plant will produce roughly the same amount of cars in the second quarter as it did in the first quarter, but will grow rapidly in the third and fourth quarters.
Musk believes Tesla will still produce more than 1.5 million vehicles this year.
Tesla's Shanghai plant shut down production when the city went into a phased lockdown from March 28 and resumed limited production on April 19. The city is still in lockdown.
The plant, which currently produces only Model 3 and Model Y models, produced close to 500,000 electric vehicles for the entirety of last year, with production approaching 10,000 vehicles per week.
In addition, earlier this month, Musk said Tesla will launch a dedicated self-driving cab with a hip look, but did not disclose a specific time frame.
During the earnings call, Musk said Tesla is working on a Robotaxi that will not be equipped with either a steering wheel or foot pedals.
Tesla will hold an event to unveil the Robotaxi vehicle in 2023, with the goal of achieving mass production in 2024, he said.
Tesla fell 4.96 percent to $977.2 in regular trading Wednesday but rose 5.57 percent in after-hours trading.
More From CnEVPost
