Tesla Q1 2019: $702-million loss and slow deliveries lead to disappointing results

Overseas logistics cramped deliveries, compounding losses.

Tesla released its Q1 2019 earnings update Wednesday evening, announcing a $702-million net loss comprising $520 million in operating losses and $188 million in one-time charges. The losses amount to a $2.90 hit per share.

Production of the Model 3 increased over the previous quarter, however deliveries slowed dramatically as the company tackled logistics issues shipping inventory to overseas markets in such volume for the first time. Deliveries in the U.S. market were also impacted by the expiration of EV credits.

Tesla said it had delivered only half of its total desired Q1 volume just ten days before the quarter ended, with a large number of international deliveries still in-transit as the quarter came to a close. Those deliveries will carry forward in Q2.

The company reported a cash position of just $2.2 billion (down from $3.7 billion at the end of Q4 2018).

Tesla claims it is on pace to deliver its targeted 360,000-400,000 total units in 2019, which would amount to a 45-65% total increase in volume over 2018, owed largely in part to full-time production of the Model 3 sedan (which was produced at target capacity for only six months in 2018).