EARNINGS REVIEW
Tesla 2022 Q3 earnings report
Historical earnings report · Management guidance reflects expectations at the time of the release, not subsequent outcomes. The financial comparison uses the site’s normalized dataset, including comparative figures restated in later filings.
Production recovery and higher pricing expanded operating profit.
Assessment · Production recovery and higher pricing expanded operating profit. Reading consolidated margins alongside FCF separates business scale from cash realization. The next assessment depends on the business-specific checks set out below.
01 Business performance and growth drivers
Automotive revenue was 18.692 B$, Energy Generation/Storage 1.117 B$, and Services/Other 1.645 B$. Automotive includes regulatory credits and leasing; storage deployments in GWh are not revenue in B$.
Versus the preceding quarter, consolidated revenue changed by +4.520 B$ and operating profit by +1.224 B$; operating margin changed by +2.6 percentage points. Segment commentary explains the consolidated result. Sequential changes without controlling for acquisitions, seasonality and product transitions are not long-term growth rates.
02 Profit quality and margins
Operating margin was 17.2%; higher ASP/deliveries were offset by material/logistics/warranty costs, roughly 0.250 B$ of FX pressure and factory/4680 ramp costs.
On consolidated revenue of 21.454 B$, operating margin was 17.2% and net margin 15.3%. Net profit differed from operating profit by -0.396 B$, reflecting non-operating items, taxes and related effects. This difference cannot by itself be attributed to product demand or operating competitiveness.
03 Cash flow and financial capacity
Quarterly operating cash flow of 5.100 B$ less capital expenditure of 1.803 B$ gives common-basis FCF of 3.297 B$. Ending cash and cash equivalents were 19.532 B$, versus total liabilities of 33.302 B$. Liabilities are not equivalent to borrowings; cash excludes separately reported short-term investments.
Common-basis FCF was 15.4% of revenue. Both operating cash flow and capital expenditure refer to this quarter, not annual or trailing-twelve-month periods. Working-capital movements and non-cash adjustments mean operating cash flow need not equal net profit.
04 Management commentary and contemporaneous guidance
Cash/short-term investment movement reflected roughly 3.3 B$ of FCF alongside 0.9 B$ of debt repayment.
Management maintained the multi-year 50% delivery-growth target and planned initial Semi deliveries for December 2022.
05 Risks and next checks
Monitor production/delivery differences and logistics timing; check whether lower ramp costs offset pricing and FX pressures.
Quarterly results · CY-aligned view
| Metric · B$ | 2021 total of 2 included quarters | 3Q 2021 Q3 2021-09-30 | 4Q 2021 Q4 2021-12-31 | 2022 total of 3 included quarters | 1Q 2022 Q1 2022-03-31 | 2Q 2022 Q2 2022-06-30 | 3Q 2022 Q3 2022-09-30 | QoQ Δ | YoY Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 31.476 | 13.757 | 17.719 | 57.144 | 18.756 | 16.934 | 21.454 | 4.520 | 7.697 |
| Operating income | 4.617 | 2.004 | 2.613 | 9.755 | 3.603 | 2.464 | 3.688 | 1.224 | 1.684 |
| Operating margin (%) | 14.668 | 14.567 | 14.747 | 17.071 | 19.210 | 14.551 | 17.190 | 2.640 pp | 2.623 pp |
| Net income | 3.939 | 1.618 | 2.321 | 8.869 | 3.318 | 2.259 | 3.292 | 1.033 | 1.674 |
| FCF · company definition | 4.103 | 1.328 | 2.775 | 6.146 | 2.228 | 0.621 | 3.297 | 2.676 | 1.969 |
| Operating cash flow · total | 7.732 | 3.147 | 4.585 | 11.446 | 3.995 | 2.351 | 5.100 | 2.749 | 1.953 |
| Net cash CapEx · common | 3.629 | 1.819 | 1.810 | 5.300 | 1.767 | 1.730 | 1.803 | 0.073 | −0.016 |
| Cash CapEx · Chinese company definition | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| FCF · total calculation | 4.103 | 1.328 | 2.775 | 6.146 | 2.228 | 0.621 | 3.297 | 2.676 | 1.969 |
| Net cash · liquid assets less borrowings | 12.365 | 9.449 | 12.365 | 18.710 | 14.592 | 15.763 | 18.710 | 2.947 | 9.261 |
| Liquid assets · including short-term investments | 17.707 | 16.095 | 17.707 | 21.107 | 18.013 | 18.915 | 21.107 | 2.192 | 5.012 |
| Borrowings · interest-bearing debt | 5.342 | 6.646 | 5.342 | 2.397 | 3.421 | 3.152 | 2.397 | −0.755 | −4.249 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 17.576 | 16.065 | 17.576 | 19.532 | 17.505 | 18.324 | 19.532 | 1.208 | 3.467 |
| Total liabilities · accounting liabilities | 30.548 | 29.340 | 30.548 | 33.302 | 30.632 | 30.855 | 33.302 | 2.447 | 3.962 |
CY denotes the calendar quarter with the greatest overlap with the fiscal period. If the first period has no start date, 89 days before its end is used only for calendar mapping. Financial values are not recalculated into calendar quarters. Incomplete years show totals of included quarters; cash, liabilities, borrowings and net cash use the last period-end balance. QoQ and YoY show absolute changes; margin changes are percentage points. Dashes indicate missing evidence or incomparable periods or definitions. Total liabilities never substitute for borrowings.
Definitions and evidence coverage
A dash means unavailable or undisclosed, not zero. Company-defined FCF may differ from total operating cash flow less common-basis CapEx. Total liabilities are accounting liabilities, not interest-bearing debt.
Management commentary summarizes the contemporaneous official earnings release; this report does not represent a full conference-call Q&A review.
Official source documents
- TSLA 2022 09 30 release ↗
- Canonical financial data filing reference ↗
- Tesla Q2 2023 update comparative financial table ↗
- Filing source of the existing audited financial series ↗
- Filing source of the existing audited financial series ↗
- Financial filing · 2021-09-30 ↗
- Financial filing · 2021-09-30 ↗
- Financial filing · 2021-12-31 ↗
- Financial filing · 2021-12-31 ↗
- Financial filing · 2021-12-31 ↗
- Financial filing · 2022-03-31 ↗
- Financial filing · 2022-03-31 ↗
- Financial filing · 2022-06-30 ↗