It wasn’t so long ago that electric car stock Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was warning us about its third-quarter delivery and production numbers. That warning recently came to pass as Tesla put out the numbers in question, and they largely disappointed on every front. That warning may have been sufficiently timely to be priced in, though, as Tesla was up fractionally in Monday morning’s trading session.
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The third-quarter production and delivery numbers, on the surface, looked pretty good. Not only did Tesla produce a whopping 430,488 vehicles, it also delivered slightly more than that at 435,059. This suggests that Tesla isn’t keeping a lot of inventory on hand. A certain amount is unavoidable, even desirable—it needs to be able to cover those occasional shortfalls, after all—but it’s easy to overdo that sort of thing.
Here’s the problem, though; not only are these numbers down from what analysts expected, but they’re also down from last quarter’s numbers too. Tesla posted 466,140 deliveries in the second quarter, which means deliveries—and, therefore, sales—are down. Tesla also produced 479,700 vehicles last quarter, which shows production is down as well. But Tesla already warned us that would happen and that it was largely temporary. It doesn’t help that analyst expectations were looking for much better runs, too; analysts expected 455,000 electric vehicles delivered in the third quarter.
What is a Good Price for Tesla Stock?
Still, Tesla enjoys its share of analyst support. With 12 Buy ratings, 12 Holds, and four Sells, Tesla stock is rated a Moderate Buy right now. Further, with an average price target of $273.46, Tesla stock offers its investors a modest 8.75% upside potential.
