Tesla’s awful quarter has Wall Street on edge ahead of delivery numbers
Shares of the electric vehicle maker plunged 29% in the first three months of the year, the worst quarter for the stock since the end of 2022 and the third worst since Tesla went public in 2010. It was also the biggest loser in the S&P 500.
Chief among concerns on Wall Street is Tesla's core business. The company is poised to report first-quarter vehicle production and deliveries in coming days, and even bulls are expecting sluggish results, despite price cuts and incentives for buyers dangled throughout the quarter.
As of Thursday, the last trading day of the quarter, analysts were expecting around 457,000 deliveries for the period, according to the average of 11 analyst estimates compiled by FactSet. That would mark an increase of 8% from 422,875 a year earlier. Estimates for the quarter ranged from 414,000 to 511,000 deliveries.
Analysts who updated their numbers in March were the most bearish, with their estimates ranging from 414,000 to 469,000. Independent autos industry researcher "Troy Teslike" expects the company's deliveries to come in below even the lowest estimate captured by FactSet.
