On January 27, Beijing time, Tesla announced the fourth quarter of 2021 financial report, and a number of indicators exceeded market expectations.
According to the report, Tesla's Q4 revenue was $17.72 billion, an increase of 65% year-on-year. Among them, the total revenue of Tesla's automotive business was $15.967 billion; the net profit of Q4 increased by about 760% year-on-year to $2.321 billion; the gross profit margin increased from 26.6% in the previous quarter to 27.4% in Q4 2021; and in terms of stock price, the company's earnings per share for the current period were $2.05, an increase of 8.5 times year-on-year. At the close of trading on January 26, EST, Tesla was trading at $937.41 per share, bringing its total market capitalization to $941.4 billion.
"Focus on both supply and production, and temporarily do not develop low-end models"
Behind the strong earnings report is the growth of Tesla's automotive business. According to the financial report, the Q4 Tesla vehicle business revenue was $15.967 billion, an increase of 71% year-on-year; of which the car sales revenue was $15.339 billion and the car rental revenue was $628 million. Compared with the proportion of carbon credit trading profits shown in Q1 last year, the improvement in the profits of Tesla's automobile business means that brand operations tend to develop healthily.
Last year, Tesla's cumulative production was 930,400 units, an increase of 83% over the same period in 2020. The Model 3 and Model Y totaled 906,000 units, and the Model S and Model X totaled 24,390 units. In terms of sales, Tesla delivered a total of 936,000 vehicles in the whole year, an increase of 87% year-on-year; of which the Model 3 and Model Y delivered a total of 911,200 units, and the Model S and Model X delivered a total of 24,980 vehicles.
The Chinese market has contributed greatly to Tesla's production and sales. According to the data of the Association, Tesla's sales in China last year increased by 133.3% year-on-year to 320,743 units, and its Model 3 and Model Y models ranked third among China's new energy vehicle sales manufacturers, and by-one by BYD and SAIC-GM-Wuling, which ranked in the top two, still seized market share with a variety of power and low-end models.
Musk told the conference call that Tesla "won't launch a new model this year and isn't moving forward with the development of a $25,000 electric car right now." The CYBERRUCK, electric truck Semi and ROADSTER sports cars are ready to be launched next year. "This is a response to the previous rumors of Tesla's layout in the low-end market." At present, Tesla's average cost per vehicle has remained at about $36,000, and the profit margin of Q4's auto business has reached 30.6%, up 0.1% from last year's Q3.
Tesla will continue to work hard to improve its profit margins, and CFO Zach Korkhorn pointed out that whether the data grows or not, Model Y is key, because the Model Y's profits are much higher than the Model 3, and the localization of auto parts in the Shanghai Gigafactory also helps to improve profit margins. At present, Tesla has four factories around the world, which have been officially put into production in the United States and Shanghai, and the Berlin Gigafactory in Germany has recently reported that it has begun to accept Model Y orders. In 2021, Tesla's total production capacity has exceeded 1.05 million vehicles, in the Chinese market, its launch of the Model Y model quickly became popular in the market, and the sales of the car exceeded 40,000 units in December last year, becoming the champion of new energy SUV sales.
Cockhorn also believes that Tesla's main focus on improving profit margins should be the software business, because its profit margins are very high. "We will continue to innovate to reduce manufacturing and operating costs, and over time we expect hardware-related profits to accelerate alongside software-related profits." At present, the domestic Tesla fully automated driving system (FSD) price has reached 64,000 yuan, and in the US market, it has risen to $12,000 on the 17th of this month, compared with this premise price of $0.2.
This method has opened up a gap with a number of domestic car brands. In the current new energy vehicle market, most car manufacturers still rely on low-end models to boost sales, Volkswagen, Extreme Krypton brand in the domestic launch of new cars, its black screen, Caton and other situations for many users to bring trouble. Compared with other brands, Tesla's research and development and upgrade on FSD has made many companies look forward to it. Musk said that FSD will continue to improve in 2022, and it is expected that by the summer, Tesla's supercomputer Dojo will begin to come in handy; in an interview with the media late last year, Musk said that autopilot may be achieved as soon as 2022.
It is reported that Musk will announce the location of the next Tesla gigafactory at the end of this year, Tesla said in the earnings report: "We believe that what plays a decisive role in the competition in the electric vehicle market is to increase production capacity through supply chain and expansion." ”