Tesla released its first quarter delivery numbers over the weekend, which were slightly below analysts’ expectations despite ongoing supply chain challenges and factory shutdowns, notably Shanghai’s COVID-19 lockdowns. Tesla stock was up 6.9% in pre-market trading as of Monday, Apr. 4.

                By                    Yaёl Bizouati-Kennedy

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The company said it produced 305,407 vehicles and delivered 310,048 vehicles, according to an announcement. It produced 14,218 and delivered 14,724 Model S/X, and produced 291,189 and delivered 295,324 Model 3/Y vehicles. Analysts expected 312,000 deliveries, according to Wedbush Securities, although some analysts had lowered their expectations due to the Shanghai factory closing.

“This was an exceptionally difficult quarter due to supply chain interruptions & China zero Covid policy. Outstanding work by Tesla team & key suppliers saved the day,” CEO Elon Musk tweeted Apr. 2.

Set to resume production at its Shanghai factory April 1, Tesla further delayed the reopening following COVID-19 lockdowns. And on April 4, Bloomberg reported that Tesla’s factory in Shanghai will stay closed Monday, according to an emailed company memo.

The Shanghai factory, located in the Pudong district east of the city’s Huangpu River, suspended production last week, after the city launched a two-stage lockdown to combat a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said he characterizes the delivery results as “better than feared” and ahead of lowered Street whisper numbers in light of recent COVID shutdowns in China and massive logistics complications delivering units to customers in Europe.

“Relative to other automakers such as GM and Ford, as well as Chinese EV players such as NIO, Xpeng, and others, we view these delivery and production numbers as a positive step in the right direction for the next step of the Tesla growth story to take hold with Berlin and Austin factories now green lighted,” Ives said. “The bears will point to Tesla missing ‘headline Street estimates’ although we believe the supply/logistics issues for Tesla in the last week of the quarter were piling up and most investors will look through the slight official headline miss on deliveries.”

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Wedbush said it remains “steadfastly bullish” on the Tesla story and believes when factoring in all the manufacturing headwind dynamics “this was a modestly bullish print.” Wedbush is maintaining its Outperform opinion and a $1,400 price target.

Tesla will post its financial results for the first quarter of 2022 after market close on Wednesday, Apr. 20.

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