Tesla Loss Widens in Carmaker's First Earnings Results as a Public Company
Tesla Motors Inc., the electric-car maker backed by Toyota Motor Corp. and Daimler AG, said its second-quarter loss widened to $38.5 million in its first earnings release as a publicly traded company.
The net loss of $5.04 a share widened from $10.9 million, or $1.56, a year earlier, the Palo Alto, California-based company said today in a statement. Revenue rose 5.4 percent to $28.4 million, helped by higher demand for its $109,000 Roadster sports cars and battery sales to Daimler, the company said.
Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s startup, unprofitable every year since its founding in 2003, said losses will continue until production and sales of its $57,000 Model S start in 2012. The company raised $260 million from its initial public offering in June and has more than $324 million in private investments and $465 million in low-cost federal loans.
Tesla is “not the kind of stock I think you buy as a fundamental investor, unless you have a very long time horizon,” said Michael Yoshikami, who oversees about $1 billion as chief investment strategist at YCMNet Advisors in Walnut Creek, California, and doesn’t own Tesla shares. “If you’re playing with this stock as a growth game, you’re betting they’re going to be the next Google.”
Tesla fell $1.15, or 5.4 percent, to $20.11 at 6:26 p.m. New York time, after the end of regular Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares rose 25 percent since the offering through the close of regular trading today.
Musk, who made almost $300 million selling PayPal Inc. and Zip2 Corp., has said he invested about $70 million in Tesla. He earned at least $24 million from the company’s share sale and remains its largest shareholder with a 27 percent stake, according to filings.
Roadster Deliveries
Tesla delivered 141 lithium-ion battery Roadster models during the quarter, and total orders for the car, which is capable of driving more than 240 miles on a charge, have risen to at least 2,800, Musk said.
Musk declined to estimate future sales of battery packs and chargers for Daimler’s Mercedes A-class cars and Freightliner trucks and batteries for Toyota’s RAV4 sport-utility vehicle.
“We’re not making any predictions on that front,” Musk said in a conference call today. “We don’t have enough certainty to make predictions.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net
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