Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.26 EPS

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26), RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS.

Tesla Stock Up 5.5 %

TSLA stock opened at $251.07 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $807.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.07, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $267.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $322.05. Tesla has a 12 month low of $157.51 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total value of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at $7,242,273.50. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 374,228 shares of company stock worth $123,791,123 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Tesla stock. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 21.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,317 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 931 shares during the quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $2,147,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TSLA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $425.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Tesla from $420.00 to $345.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. Raymond James downgraded Tesla to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $375.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $404.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $283.24.

About Tesla

Tesla, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, leases, and sells electric vehicles, and energy generation and storage systems in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Automotive, and Energy Generation and Storage. The Automotive segment offers electric vehicles, as well as sells automotive regulatory credits; and non-warranty after-sales vehicle, used vehicles, body shop and parts, supercharging, retail merchandise, and vehicle insurance services.